Department of Health and Social Care

Eating Disorders

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2017 to Question 7685, what progress has been made on (a) developing a pathway for adults with eating disorders, (b) issuing implementation guidance for providers and (c) data collection to assess the feasibility of introducing a mandatory waiting time standard for adults with eating disorders.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health in partnership with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence are currently developing an adult eating disorder care pathway along with detailed implementation guidance for providers. This pathway will be published in due course. NHS England is undertaking data collection and analysis to understand current levels of provision, including activity, workforce and investment across both community and inpatient adult eating disorder services. This work will establish the potential for future improvements in access and waiting times and the potential for achieving parity with children and young people’s eating disorder services.

Eating Disorders

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people over 19 years of age were referred to non-specialist services for eating disorders in the last twelve months.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The total number of people aged over 19 years of age, who were referred to non-specialist services for eating disorders for 2016/17 is 2,682. 2016/17 is the latest annual statistical information available on uses of secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services. These statistics are derived from the Mental Health Services Data Set published by NHS Digital at: http://content.digital.nhs.uk/mhsds Data have been calculated where a person is aged over 19 on the date of referral which has a primary reason for referral of eating disorders.

Nabiximols

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on reducing the cost of the drug Sativex in order to allow that drug to be prescribed to people suffering from MS.

Steve Brine: Sativex is licensed for the treatment of moderate to severe spasticity in multiple sclerosis (MS). It is normally prescribed on the National Health Service by a specialist doctor with experience of treating MS spasticity – consultant neurologists, consultant rehabilitation specialists and consultant pain specialists. When the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its guideline on the treatment of adults with MS in 2014, it recommended that Sativex should not be offered as an option to treat spasticity in people with MS because it is not a cost effective treatment. NICE is responsible for determining whether its guidance should be updated following the publication of any significant new evidence.

NHS: Translation Services

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department's policy is on the provision in the NHS of interpretation services for refugees.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The National Health Service should provide appropriate interpreting services to all patients requiring them. Individuals who experience a communications barrier, such as people whose first language is not English and who may need to communicate in another language, may require the provision of interpreting and translation services. This complies with the Equality Act 2010, the Human Rights Act 1998 and / or other legislative present provisions. In the case of those with a sensory impairment (such as British Sign Language speakers or braille readers), there are explicit obligations to make reasonable adjustments, provided by the Equality Act 2010 and the Accessible Information Standard. This makes it imperative for organisations to provide appropriate language and communication support to ensure that patients are able to communicate effectively and appropriately with clinicians and other health service professionals.

Social Services: Minimum Wage

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the total sleep-in back pay liability for care providers in (a) Harrow East constituency and (b) the London Borough of Harrow; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Dinenage: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Worsley and Eccles South (Barbara Keeley) on 26 February 2018 to Question 128962.

Sexual Offences: Essex

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care how many reports his Department has received of incidents relating to sexual misconduct involving (a) staff and (b) patients at (i) North Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, (ii) South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, and (iii) Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust.

Stephen Barclay: National Health Service employers are responsible for the safety and welfare of their staff in accordance with health and safety legislation. The Department does not collect information on the number of reports received on incidents relating to sexual misconduct involving staff and patients in the NHS. Information on sexual assaults was not collected separately from other physical assaults, in the last central collection which took place in 2015/16 and was undertaken by NHS Protect. The NHS Staff Survey also collects data on physical violence against those staff responding to the Survey but does not separate out sexual assaults. The Department is working with the NHS on a new data collection for violence against and abuse of NHS staff which should be introduced from 2019.

Department of Health and Social Care: Internet

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the value of his Department's contracts with (a) Amazon Web Services, (b) Oracle Fusion, (c) Microsoft Azure, (d) Vodafone, (e) DXC, (f) SCC and (g) UKCloud was in financial years (i) 2012-2013, (ii) 2013-2014, (iii) 2014-2015, (iv) 2015-2016 and (v) 2016-2017.

Caroline Dinenage: Expenditure has been incurred on contracts with two of these suppliers for these financial years. The information is shown in the table below: Supplier2012-132013-142014-152015-162016-17Vodafone LTD£1,327,377£20,296,485£7,359,960£563,826 UKCloud LTD£3,432

Spectacles: Prescriptions

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing orthoptists to sign hospital eye service spectacle prescriptions in order to improve and streamline eye care.

Steve Brine: No assessment has been made of the merits of allowing orthoptists to sign hospital eye service spectacle prescriptions. The Opticians Act 1989 sets out who may carry out a sight test and sign a spectacle prescription form. This is restricted under the Act to optometrists registered with the General Optical Council and Ophthalmic Medical Practitioners registered with the General Medical Council.

Health Professions

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2017 to Question 9019, what plans he has to meet with the Allied Health Professionals Federation on allied health professionals in leadership roles in the NHS.

Caroline Dinenage: The role that allied health professionals and other clinicians play in National Health Service leadership is of utmost importance and we engage with a range of professions to understand how best to support clinical leaders. My hon. Friend, the former Minister of State (Mr Phillip Dunne MP), met the Allied Health Professionals Federation on 29 November 2017.

Health Services: Waiting Lists

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients are on a waiting list for each type of treatment in England; and how many of those people have been on a waiting list for longer than 18 weeks.

Stephen Barclay: Information is not available in the format requested. The table below provides the volume of incomplete referral to treatment pathways in England for January 2018 by treatment type. This is not a count of individual patients as a patient may be on more than one pathway.Treatment functionTotal% within 18 weeksGeneral Surgery298,49085.0%Urology196,04687.8%Trauma and Orthopaedics462,74884.0%Ear, Nose and Throat268,84586.5%Ophthalmology388,09288.6%Oral Surgery152,87886.0%Neurosurgery29,46884.2%Plastic Surgery45,56982.2%Cardiothoracic Surgery8,14383.9%General Medicine49,27893.6%Gastroenterology186,19391.0%Cardiology183,36589.9%Dermatology184,28890.0%Thoracic Medicine93,82089.1%Neurology108,77386.9%Rheumatology75,71792.1%Geriatric Medicine19,03596.1%Gynaecology217,63389.3%Other760,70990.7%England3,729,09088.2%Source: NHS England consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times data.

Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure sufficient staffing and beds are in place in mental health services to respond to changes in the level of mental ill health among women and girls.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) requires providers of health and care services to deploy enough suitably qualified staff to meet the needs of the people using the service. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) guidance relating to Regulation 18 states that: ‘In order for providers to meet the requirements of Regulation 18, providers must provide sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff to meet the needs of the people using the service at all times and the other regulatory requirements set out in this part of the regulations’. In July 2017, Health Education England (HEE) published ‘Stepping forward to 2020/21: The mental health workforce plan for England’. This included detailed analysis of workforce numbers and vacancy rates by key staff groups and plans to increase the size of the workforce by 21,000 additional posts by 2020/21. The plan includes a series of steps, currently underway, to improve recruitment and retention of mental health staff, as well as examining models of care and the roles played by different professionals in order to maximise the impact on service users. The Women’s Mental Health Taskforce was set up in early 2017 with the objective of developing collaborative proposals for action to improve women’s mental health. It brings together experts on women’s mental health and involves key national organisations responsible for policy, commissioning and delivery of services, including system partners such as NHS England and Public Health England. To ensure that there are sufficient beds to provide specialist inpatient perinatal mental health care, NHS England is expanding the capacity of inpatient mother and baby units (MBUs). Four new, eight-bed MBUs have been commissioned to provide specialist care and support to mothers who experience severe mental ill health during and after pregnancy in areas of the country with particular access issues.

Health Services: Females

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of whether patient care plans are taking into account the particular needs of women and girls who have experienced violence and abuse.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Chief Social Worker has issued specific guidance on dealing with controlling and coercive behaviour. When carrying out an assessment, the social worker / practitioner must take into account the specific needs of the individual, including any safeguarding concerns and other vulnerabilities.

Health Services: Veterans

Sir Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to seek an arrangement with the US Department of Veterans Affairs for re-imbursement of treatment provided by the NHS to former US military personnel now resident in the UK for conditions attributable to their US military service.

Stephen Barclay: This Department has no plans to seek re-imbursement from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs for treatment provided by the National Health Service to former US military personnel now resident in the United Kingdom.

Personal Injury: Compensation

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the planned additional expenditure related to changes to the personal injury discount rate provided for in his Department's Supplementary Estimate 2017-18, how much such additional expenditure there has been in 2017-18 to date.

Stephen Barclay: The additional requirement in relation to the change in the personal injury discount rate was £394 million. Year to date spend (as part of the Department’s month nine accounts position) was £318 million in relation to the personal injury discount rate. Final outturn will be published as part of the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts by the end of July 2018.

Health Services: Reciprocal Arrangements

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the planned additional expenditure related to  reciprocal healthcare arrangements provided for in his Department's Supplementary Estimate 2017-18, how much such additional expenditure there has been in 2017-18 to date.

Stephen Barclay: The initial spending plan for reciprocal healthcare included in the 2017-18 Main Estimate was £630 million. At the 2017-18 Supplementary Estimate the expected full-year expenditure had increased during the financial year to £897 million, resulting in additional revenue funding of £267 million being agreed with HM Treasury. At month nine (December) expenditure incurred to date was estimated at £727 million. The additional £267 million of funding was to cover additional expenditure due to a weaker sterling, increased numbers of pensioners abroad and higher than anticipated costs of healthcare in the European Economic Area and Switzerland.

General Practitioners: Labour Turnover

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the number of general practitioners taking early retirement; and what steps his Department is taking to increase the size of the general practitioner workforce.

Steve Brine: The Department’s assessment is that the trend for general practitioners (GPs) taking early retirement has increased over recent years as set out in the table below. Pension Year (1 April to 31 March)Number of GPs taking Voluntary Early Retirement (VER)Approximate Average Age of GP taking VERTotal Number of GPs claiming Pension% VER2011/1251357 years1,545332012/1359157 years1,406422013/1474656 years and 11 months1,503502014/1573857 years1,434512015/1667757 years1,254542016/1772157 years1,16462 In April 2016, the General Practice Forward View1 made the commitment to grow the GP workforce by 5,000 full time equivalent doctors in general practice compared to 2015. A number of steps are being taken to increase the size of the general practitioner workforce. Health Education England has increased the number of GP training places to 3,250 each year with 3,157 starting in 2017, the highest number ever. NHS England is accelerating its international recruitment programme, following successful regional pilots. It aims to recruit at least 2,000 GPs from overseas over the next three years. NHS England has launched the GP Career Plus Scheme, to test a range of ways to offer flexibility and support to experienced GPs at risk of leaving general practice. This is in addition to the new GP Retention Scheme which offers funding to support doctors who can only work a limited number of sessions in general practice. NHS England has also improved the GP Induction and Refresher Scheme to make it easier and quicker for qualified doctors to return to general practice. 260 doctors are currently on the programme and 106 have completed it and are working in practice. Notes: 1https://www.england.nhs.uk/gp/gpfv/

Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2018 to Question 130425 on Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, how many patients have been on the waiting list for each week from one to 18 weeks.

Stephen Barclay: This information is not available in the format requested. The following table provides the numbers of referral to treatment pathways for planned treatment at Wirral University Hospital in December 2017 by weeks. This is not a count of individual patients as a patient may be on more than one pathway. Wirral University Teaching Hospital Foundation Trust referral to treatment pathways waiting times 1 – 18 weeks at December 2017Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation TrustWaiting Times - WeeksPathways1 To 21,5772 To 31,3983 To 41,4464 To 51,2575 To 61,3536 To 71,2257 To 81,1098 To 99749 To 1094610 To 1193911 To 1284312 To 1375513 To 1467314 To 1566815 To 1663716 To 1753517 To 18340Source: NHS England referral to treatment waiting times data.

Mental Health Services: Wirral

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much additional funding his Department has allocated to (a) CAMHS and (b) other services for child mental health in Wirral.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Figures showing expenditures for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in the Wirral alongside additional funding made available to meet the eating disorders access and waiting times standards set our within the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health are attached.



PQ131373 attached table
(Word Document, 21.45 KB)

Prostate Cancer: Screening

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many men have been screened for prostate cancer in each Clinical Commissioning Group area in each year of the last five years.

Steve Brine: Prostate screening is not offered as a population screening programme in the United Kingdom. The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) last reviewed the evidence about screening for prostate cancer in 2016 and recommended against a population screening programme. The reasons for this included that the test which is available for use in screening, Prostate-Specific Antigen, is neither very specific nor very sensitive, and is unable to distinguish between slow-growing and fast-growing cancers; there is therefore a risk that a national screening programme would lead to a high number of false positives. There are major harms of treating men who incorrectly test positive (i.e. have false positive tests), these include impotence, incontinence and rectal problems. The UK NSC will be reviewing the evidence to screen for prostate cancer later in 2019/20. More information is available at: https://legacyscreening.phe.org.uk/prostatecancer

Clinical Commissioning Groups: Halton

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2018 to Question 130487 on Clinical Commissioning Groups: Halton, was the reasons are for a chief officer to be appointed on an interim basis; and what the timetable is for the appointment of a permanent chief officer.

Steve Brine: NHS England has confirmed that the appointment of clinical commissioning group (CCG) Accountable Officers (AOs) is a matter for each individual CCG governing body, and subject to approval by the Chief Executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens. The AO at Halton CCG has been successful in their application for a short-term, 12-month secondment with the Cheshire and Merseyside Sustainability and Transformation Partnership. Interim arrangements have been put in place at the CCG, which will allow for them to return to their post at the end of the secondment. There is no timetable as yet for a permanent appointment.

Obesity: Children

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the instances of childhood obesity being the primary cause of cancer among children aged 16 and under, in each of the last 10 years.

Steve Brine: No such estimate has been made.

Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that mental health services use the least restrictive options for care.

Jackie Doyle-Price: NHS England’s full programme of work in line with the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health is predicated on services being commissioned to provide patients with timely access to evidence-based care as early as possible and as close to home as possible where appropriate. This includes home treatment teams and wider community mental health services. In 2017/18, NHS England has been developing a programme of work around community mental health services, including a pathway spanning primary and secondary care in partnership with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has undertaken a local visits programme to specifically examine reasons for changing rates of detention under the Mental Health Act. In January 2018 the CQC subsequently published its report, “Mental Health Act – The rise in the use of the MHA to detain people in England”. The CQC’s programme was prompted by suggestions that the changing rates of detention under the Act have a number of causes and that these vary in different parts of the country. This is consistent with recent academic findings. Building on the CQC’s findings, the Government will work with arm’s length bodies and Professor Sir Simon Wessely’s independent review of the Act to explore further the factors involved. The review will publish an interim report in the spring highlighting priorities for further investigation, and will make recommendations to the Government later in the year. NHS England intends to publish a response to the Crisp Commission on Adult Acute Psychiatric Care shortly. The Commission’s report emphasises the need to focus on whole system capacity management and alternatives to admission, such as home treatment. NHS England and NHS Improvement’s major programme to support areas to eliminate non-specialist acute out-of-area placements for adults by 2020/21 will build on this, supported by £400 million investment in Crisis Resolution Home Treatment teams by 2020/21.

Compulsorily Detained Psychiatric Patients: Restraint Techniques

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the extent of the use of restraint against men and women detained under the Mental Health Act 1983; and what assessment he has made of the effect the use of restraint has on women who have experienced violence and abuse.

Jackie Doyle-Price: No specific assessments have been made of the extent of the use of restraint against men and women detained under the Mental Health Act 1983, or the effect the use of restraint has on women who have experienced violence and abuse. However, reducing the need for, and use of restrictive interventions is a priority for the Government. A major piece of work to reduce the use of restrictive interventions is underway across national organisations as part of a wider patient safety focus led by NHS England, NHS Improvement and the Care Quality Commission. This includes improving the quality and completeness of routinely-published data and builds on previous Government-led work following the publication of ‘Positive and Proactive Care; reducing the need for restrictive interventions’ in 2014.

Compulsorily Detained Psychiatric Patients: Ethnic Groups

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 by each ethnic grouping in each of the last 10 years.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department does not hold the information in the format requested.

Members: Correspondence

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond from the letter of the right hon. Member for North Norfolk of 7 December 2017 on behalf of Dr Chris Day requesting a meeting to discuss whistleblowing in the NHS.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department has received the letter from the Rt. hon. Member for North Norfolk and will provide a response as soon as possible.

Mental Health Services

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timetable is for NHS England to publish information on the additional mental health therapists working in primary care.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the targets set in the Five Year Forward View, published in October 2014 and the General Practice Forward View, published in April 2016, how many additional mental health therapists are now working in primary care.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many additional mental health therapists are embedded in General Practice since the publication of NHS England's Five Year Forward View, published in October 2014..

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, With reference to the General Practice Forward View, published in April 2016, what progress his Department has made on the target of an additional 3,000 mental health therapists working in primary care by 2020.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's Next steps on the NHS Five Year Forward View, published in March 2017, what progress his Department has made on embedding an additional 800 mental health therapists in primary care by March 2018.

Jackie Doyle-Price: This information is not currently available in the format requested. Work is currently underway within NHS Digital to improve the National Workforce Data Set including improving information provision about the Psychologist and Psychological Therapies workforce. Changes to relevant systems should be in place by summer 2018 and NHS Digital should be in a position to begin reporting before the end of 2018.

Breast Cancer: West Midlands

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the level of breast cancer screening in (a) the West Midlands and (b) Coventry.

Steve Brine: NHS England is responsible for commissioning breast screening services to meet programme standards including coverage. They are committed to improving coverage and reducing variation between all age groups and catchment areas. The National Service specification for breast screening requires providers to have systems in place to ensure women who do not respond to the invitation to screen are provided with an opportunity not to miss screening. The efforts to increase the uptake include: reminders, second timed appointments, ensuring that women are invited every three years, and tailored information for women with learning difficulties. Further information is available here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/service-spec-24.pdf

Mental Illness: Devon

Sir Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GP fit note episodes there were for mental and behavioural disorders in the Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group in the last two years.

Jackie Doyle-Price: NHS Digital has begun publishing anonymised fit note data available at clinical commissioning group level. The data provides information on the volumes of fit notes issued, the split between unfit and maybe fit for work, duration, linked episodes of illness, gender and condition. No individual patients or general practitioner practices can be identified and data will be published every quarter. We are committed to supporting the fit note’s intended purpose as an enabler for conversations about health and work, focussing individuals and their employers to think about what they can do rather than what they cannot. The number of fit note episodes for mental and behavioural disorders in Northern, Eastern Western Devon over the last two years was 2,343 in 2015-16 and 3,122 in 2016-17. The data is published by NHS Digital at: http://digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB30068

Members: Correspondence

Karen Lee: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the letter of 31 January 2018 from the right hon. Member for Lincoln on the closure of Lincoln's walk-in centre.

Steve Brine: I responded to the hon. Member’s letter on 5 March 2018.

Prisoners: Abortion

Ms Marie Rimmer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women prisoners had terminations in 2017; and if he will make a statement.

Ms Marie Rimmer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women prisoners had miscarriages in 2017; and if he will make a statement.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The number of women prisoners who had a termination or a miscarriage in 2017 is not collected centrally. The safety and welfare of women prisoners within custody is a top priority for the Government. Prisoners are entitled to receive the same standard and access to healthcare treatments and care as people in the community. Commissioning of health services for people in custody (based on a Health Needs Assessment) is carried out by local Health and Justice commissioning teams. All NHS England Health and Justice commissioners work closely with individual establishments within the secure and detained estate, to commission and procure healthcare providers to provide a range of high quality services which meet the needs of prisoners, and this would include support for women prisoners who had either had a termination or a miscarriage.

Department for Work and Pensions

Personal Independence Payment: Parkinson's Disease

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with Parkinson’s disease who previously received the (a) higher rate mobility component and (b) higher rate care component under disability living allowance received (i) a lower rate of award or (ii) no award following reassessment for personal independence payments in the latest period for which figures are available.

Sarah Newton: The table below shows the number of claimants with Parkinson’s disease who received higher rate mobility or higher rate care awards under DLA but who, following reassessment to PIP, received a standard or nil award. Table: DLA to PIP Reassessment outcomes for claimants with Parkinson’s disease  Outcome Following Reassessment to PIPAward Received Under DLAStandard Rate of AwardNo AwardHigher Rate Care Component19090Higher Rate Mobility Component500430 Source: PIP Computer System claimant records and DLA Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study claimant data (1st October 2013 to 31st October 2017) Notes: 1. PIP Reassessment outcome shows the outcome of the first DWP decision on each reassessment claim (i.e. they reflect outcomes prior to any reconsideration appeal action and award review), where that decision was made between 1st October 2013 and 31st October 2017.2. For each individual who has a PIP reassessment outcome their PIP entitlement has been compared to their DLA entitlement at the time of their PIP reassessment registration.3. Main disabling condition used is the disability recorded on the DLA administrative system for each individual. This is used because disability information is recorded on the PIP computer systems only for the group of cases who have a PIP assessment report.4. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which their entitlement decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics. It is possible that a reassessment claim could have a different main disabling condition recorded on the DLA and PIP systems.5. Figures include reassessment outcomes for individuals who were aged between 16 and 64 on 8th April 2013, and include both PIP Normal Rules and Special Rules for the Terminally Ill claims.6. Figures exclude withdrawn cases.7. The definition of “Parkinson’s disease” includes a small number of claimants who have “Parkinson’s syndrome”.The breakdown of data provided is unpublished data. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.9. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.10. Totals may not sum due to rounding.11. Great Britain only.

Disability Premium

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were receiving (a) severe disability premium, (b) enhanced disability premium or (c) severe and enhanced disability premiums as of May 2017.

Sarah Newton: The information available for Income Support, Pension Credit and Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants in May 2017 who were in receipt of severe and enhanced disability premiums is in the table below: Income Support, Pension Credit and Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants in receipt of the severe disability premium and enhanced disability premium, May-2017, Great Britain Income SupportPension CreditJobseeker’s AllowanceSevere Disability Premium Only10,450502,11010,000Enhanced Disability Premium Only21,990--Both Severe and Enhanced Disability Premium6,520-- Source: DWP 100% and 5% Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study data NotesIncome Support and Pension Credit figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Jobseeker’s Allowance figures are rounded to the nearest 100. “–“ denotes nil or negligible.The JSA figures are from the 5% WPLS data. The best statistics on benefits are derived from 100% data sources. However, the 5% sample data still provide some detail not yet available from the 100% data sources. DWP recommends that, where the detail is only available on the 5% sample data, the proportions derived should be applied to the overall 100% total for the benefit. This is the methodology used to derive the JSA figures provided here. The Department intends to release an ad-hoc statistics publication for Employment and Support Allowance recipients in receipt of severe and enhanced disability premiums. The information requested is not readily available for Housing Benefit and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Disability Premium

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will collate centrally information on the number of people claiming (a) enhanced disability premium, (b) severe disability premium or (c) enhanced and severe disability premiums alongside a payment of income-based employment and support allowance as of May 2017.

Sarah Newton: The Department intends to release an ad-hoc statistics publication for Employment and Support Allowance people in receipt of severe and enhanced disability premiums in the future.

Universal Credit

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have lost access to transitional protections through natural migration to universal credit.

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who have lost access to transitional protections through natural migration to universal credit were in receipt of (a) enhanced disability premium, (b) severe disability premium or (c) enhanced and severe disability premiums at the time of their migration.

Alok Sharma: We have always said that claimants who move over to Universal Credit as part of the managed migration process will not see a cash loss as a result of the change. This is provided that their circumstances remain the same. We will be starting managed migration of existing benefit claimants to Universal Credit from July 2019 and this will be completed by March 2022. Claimants who naturally move to Universal Credit will do so because they have had a change of circumstances. In such cases claimants will continue to have their new welfare support entitlement calculated on the rules of their new benefit. DWP continues to evaluate this policy as it is delivered.

Universal Credit: Disability

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many disabled claimants have made a claim for universal credit after failing their reassessment for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and have then successfully appealed the outcome of their ESA reassessment.

Sarah Newton: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Universal Credit: Temporary Employment

Frank Field: To ask Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the accuracy of Real Time Information on claims by agency workers for Universal Credit.

Alok Sharma: Over 99% of individual employment records are now being reported in real time. This method of sharing information is allowing us to run a welfare system that is responsive to changes in earnings and helps us identify cases of fraud. Only a small proportion of the 1% of remaining cases are referred to HMRC to clarify those earnings with the employer. DWP works closely with HMRC to investigate any risks associated with RTI data and jointly deals with disputes arising when claimants query their reported earnings. As DWP receives copies of the data submitted by employers, the risk of data corruption within HMRC is regarded as minimal. However, DWP and HMRC continually monitor the data and no significant problems have been identified. A number of processes are in place to deal with inaccurate data from employers. DWP and HMRC analysts monitor the RTI data received, looking for trends, patterns and causes. Both Departments then work together with employers and partners, such as software developers and payroll bureaux, to improve the quality of the data. This work supplements the Bankers' Automated Clearing Services (BACS) payment validation process.

Members: Correspondence

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance she has issued to her Department's Director General of Operations on the timescales for responding to correspondence from Members of Parliament on constituency casework.

Kit Malthouse: The Department has a 15 working day target for MP to Director General Correspondence and this timescale is in line with Cabinet Office directives.

Work Capability Assessment

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) changing its guidance to allow electronic recordings of employment support allowance and personal independence payment assessments and (b) providing medical assessors with approved equipment to record those assessments; and if she will make a statement.

Sarah Newton: Employment and Support Allowance claimants are able to record their assessments provided they abide by reasonable conditions designed to protect the healthcare professional and the integrity of the process. They must provide a complete and accurate copy of the recording at the end of the consultation. In addition claimants can request in advance that their assessment is recorded and the assessment provider will provide the equipment. Personal Independence Payment claimants who wish to record their assessments can do so within existing guidelines. We are currently exploring options around the provision of recording equipment for Assessment Providers. The Department has set standards for the recordings to make sure that the system is fair and accurately reflects the assessment

Personal Independence Payment

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people on lifetime awards for disability living allowance received lower payments as a result of a transfer to personal independence payments.

Sarah Newton: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Personal Independence Payment

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average length of a personal independence payment award is for people who transferred from a lifetime awards for disability living allowance.

Sarah Newton: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Domestic Violence

Lucy Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support her Department provides for benefit claimants who are fleeing domestic violence.

Kit Malthouse: The Government is fully committed to the prevention of abuse and the Department for Work and Pensions has a range of measures designed to support people who flee violent households. Easements in benefit conditionality give claimants the space and time needed to stabilise their lives. Job-seeking and work-preparation requirements can be suspended for up to 13 weeks. There is special provision in Housing Benefit for when someone is temporarily absent from their home through fear of domestic violence and abuse. If the person intends to return to their former home, they can receive Housing Benefit for both a former permanent home and temporary accommodation. There is similar provision in respect of the housing cost element of Universal Credit. Universal Credit provides an exemption for 18 to 21 year old claimants to be entitled to help with housing if they are a victim of domestic violence and abuse. There is provision for Universal Credit claimants to request separate benefit payments from their partner. There is also an exemption made in Universal Credit to support a third or subsequent child who is born on or after 6 April 2017 as a result of a non-consensual sexual act. Housing support for exempt accommodation such as a refuge is excluded from the calculation of the benefit cap for victims of domestic violence and abuse. The removal of the spare room subsidy will not apply to those victims of domestic violence who are staying in exempt accommodation. The department provides funding for Discretionary Housing Payments which are available from local authorities. These are aimed at a number of groups likely to be affected by welfare reform, including individuals or families fleeing domestic violence. Customers who have reported domestic violence are exempt from paying the £20 application fee to use the child maintenance service. A person that came to the UK on a family visa as a spouse, civil partner or unmarried partner, who needs to leave home through fear of domestic violence and abuse, can apply for a Home Office Destitute Domestic Violence concession. This will allow someone to claim benefits for up to 3 months while UK Visas and Immigration consider their application to settle in the UK. Jobcentre Plus work coaches signpost and refer domestic violence victims to organisations that can provide further support. Information on our support to victims of domestic violence was published on gov.uk on 5 January 2018 at the following linkhttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-violence-and-abuse-help-from-dwp

Personal Independence Payment

Luke Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how his Department contacts customers to advise them that they are going to be re-assessed for personal independence payments; whether they are notified of such reassessments in advance; and whether they receive a letter advising them that their claim has stopped after which they are able to appeal the decision.

Sarah Newton: All existing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) claimants have been reminded since 2013 in their annual DLA uprating letters about Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and when they will be invited to claim and under what circumstances. Examples of the DLA uprating letter can be found on the PIP Toolkit: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-personal-independence-payment-pip-toolkit. Where DLA claimants are selected to claim PIP because their existing award is coming to an end, or they are randomly selected because they have a long or indefinite award of DLA, they are sent a letter. The letter explains that their DLA will end and that if they want to continue to receive support they must make a claim for PIP, provide information when requested and attend any potential assessment consultation. The letter also explains that we will continue to pay DLA until a decision has been made on their PIP claim. Examples of some of these invitations are also available from the PIP Toolkit. Once a decision has been made on a claim to PIP, claimants are informed in the decision notification of the Mandatory Reconsideration and Appeal rights that apply.

Jobcentre Plus: Training

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what (a) resources (b) training (c) information is available to Job Centre Plus managers to help them (i) find out about specialist support providers in their local areas and (ii) work with these organisations to support jobseekers.

Alok Sharma: In addition to the Department’s response to PQ112602, answered on 16 November 2017, DWP Partnership Managers work with a range of stakeholders, including local authorities, to establish what support is available locally to encourage partnership working and to ensure claimants are signposted appropriately. There is an Employers and Partners Knowledge Hub to support staff working with employers, partners and claimants. This includes resources, guidance and information on Work and Health, Universal Credit, Labour Market Intelligence, learning and the latest news from the Employer and Partnership community. Jobcentre Managers are also provided with specific learning on ‘Making Effective Use of Provision’, which builds their capability and understanding on how their teams identify and agree the appropriate provision to support people into work.

Social Security Benefits: Agriculture

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the levels of benefit claims made by people who work in the agricultural sector.

Alok Sharma: The Department for Work and Pensions does not hold or collect data on the sector of the economy that its claimants have worked in or currently work in.

Motability: Garston and Halewood

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Garston and Halewood Constituency have lost access to a motability car in each year since 2010.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Garston and Halewood Constituency had a motability car in each year since 2010.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Garston and Halewood Constituency are not eligible for a motability car as a result of an reassessment of their entitlement (a) disability living allowance and (b) personal independence payments in each year since 2010.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Garston and Halewood constituency have returned their Motability car in each year since 2010.

Sarah Newton: This information is not readily available at constituency level and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Motability

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were paid a transitional payment by Motability after the loss of their eligibility for a Motability car in each year since 2010.

Sarah Newton: This Department does not hold this information.

Cold Weather Payments

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cold weather payments have been issued to people in (a) Vale of Clwyd constituency, (b) Wales excluding Vale of Clwyd constituency and (c) the UK excluding Wales in each of the last five years.

Kit Malthouse: The Cold Weather Payment scheme is administered at weather station level rather than any other standard GB geography such as constituency level. The coverage area for each weather station is determined by the Met Office which assesses the most appropriate weather station for each postcode area. Cold Weather Payments are triggered when the average temperature recorded at the weather station has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0oC or below over seven consecutive days. The estimated numbers of Cold Weather Payments are produced at a weather station level and cannot be broken down further. As a result, estimates given in the tables below are subject to a margin of error when matching to the specified areas. The postcode areas within (a) Vale of Clwyd constituency are covered by the Hawarden Airport and Rhyl weather stations. Table 1 gives the total estimated number of Cold Weather Payments issued to people in coverage of these weather stations in each of the last five years. Table 1: Cold Weather Payments in each of the last five years, weather stations covering Vale of Clwyd constituency  Year2012/132013/142014/152015/162016/17Estimated Cold Weather Payments26,3000000 The weather stations linked solely, or partly, to postcode areas located in Wales are: Aberporth, Capel Curig, Filton, Hawarden Airport, Hereford-Credenhill, Lake Vyrnwy, Mona, Pembrey Sands, Rhyl, Llysdinam (replacing Sennybridge from 2015/16 onwards), Shawbury, St. Athan, Trawsgoed, and Tredegar. Table 2 gives the total estimated number of Cold Weather Payments issued to people in coverage of these weather stations, excluding any estimated payments for Hawarden Airport and Rhyl weather stations. This gives an approximation of payments issued in (b) Wales excluding Vale of Clwyd constituency. Table 2: Cold Weather Payments in each of the last five years, weather stations covering Wales excluding Hawarden Airport and Rhyl weather stations Year2012/13*2013/14*2014/152015/162016/17Estimated Cold Weather Payments466,30008,00000 *See note 3.  The Department for Work and Pensions does not produce estimates for Cold Weather Payments issued in Northern Ireland. Cold Weather Payments in Northern Ireland are administered by the Department for Communities. Table 3 gives the total estimated number of Cold Weather Payments issued to people in England and Scotland in each of the last five years. Table 3: Cold Weather Payments in each of the last five years, England and Scotland Year2012/13*2013/14*2014/152015/162016/17Estimated Cold Weather Payments5,352,4001,100407,000155,000131,000 *See note 3. Notes The number of payments given here is an estimate as information on the exact number of payments made is not readily available. These figures are produced by determining the volume of eligible recipients in each weather station area at the start of the winter season and using these figures throughout the winter to estimate payments and expenditure based on the actual triggers recorded. The number of payments made is not necessarily the total number of individuals benefitting from a Cold Weather Payment. Any individuals making a joint claim for one of the qualifying benefits, such as a couple living together, will receive one payment between them rather than one payment each. Before 2014/15, estimates of Cold Weather Payments issued by country were not adjusted to take account of weather stations with postcode coverage spanning country borders.

Pension Protection Fund

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will set out the total payments made by the Pension Protection Fund in each of the last 10 years.

Guy Opperman: The Pension Protection Fund publishes the level of compensation payments made each year in their Annual Report and Accounts. The table below lists the total compensation payment made in the last 10 years. Year Amount 2016 /17£661m2015 /16£616m2014 /15£564m2013 /14£445m2012 /13£332m2011 /12£203m2010 /11£119m2009 /10£82m2008 /09£38m2007 /08£17m

Trampolining: Regulation

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has plans to regulate trampoline parks; and if she will make a statement.

Melanie Onn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to regulate trampoline parks.

Sarah Newton: Businesses running trampoline parks have legal duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and associated regulations to protect the health and safety of their employees and customers. The legal duties are enforced by local authorities. If a local authority has evidence of poor health and safety performance at a particular trampoline park, it has the powers to investigate and take appropriate enforcement action to ensure compliance with the law. A British Standard, PAS 5000:2017 ‘Specification for the construction and operation of a fixed indoor trampoline park’ provides advice to trampoline park operators on how to comply with their legal duties.

Personal Independence Payment

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applicants' claims have been rejected when transferring from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payment.

Sarah Newton: The latest available data on claimants that have been disallowed when transferring from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here:https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html. These statistics provide breakdowns of the number of claims cleared by type (e.g. awarded, disallowed or withdrawn) for both new claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) reassessment claims (filter on “reassessment” indicator) for each month since PIP was introduced in April 2013 for GB only.

Motability

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of how many claimants have lost their entitlement to motability cars during their reassessment from disability living allowance to personal independence payment.

Sarah Newton: This information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

State Retirement Pensions: British Nationals Abroad

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2018 to Question 125256, for what reasons she will not change this long-standing policy and revoke regulation three of the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Regulations 2017.

Guy Opperman: The policy on uprating pensions abroad is a long-standing one of successive post-war Governments. UK State Pensions are payable worldwide, however they are up-rated overseas only where there is a legal requirement to do so. There are two main reasons for not paying annual up-ratings to non-residents. First, up-ratings are based on levels of earnings growth and price inflation in the UK which have no direct relevance where the pensioner is resident overseas. Second, the cost of up-rating state pensions overseas in countries where we do not currently up-rate would increase immediately by over £0.5 billion per year if all pensions in payment were increased to current UK levels.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Ged Killen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the support for mortgage interest loan will have implications for a person's credit rating.

Kit Malthouse: Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loans are not a typical credit product and as such will not appear on a customer’s credit report. There is no requirement to make monthly repayments and the loan is only recoverable on the sale or transfer of the customer’s property.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Ged Killen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether people who take out a mortgage interest loan will be required to notify or seek the permission of their existing mortgage lender to do so.

Kit Malthouse: Mortgage lenders do not require their borrowers who are Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) claimants to seek their permission to take an SMI loan. The Department will issue and manage SMI loans. The level of support will be calculated in the same way as under the current system and claimants and mortgage lenders will not see any difference in the payments they receive. The Department will notify lenders where a claimant decides to take up the offer of an SMI loan.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Ged Killen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what provisions there are for the repayment of an SMI loan in the event of bankruptcy or home repossession; and whether such loan repayments will be prioritised over other existing debt in such an event.

Kit Malthouse: Where possible, a legal charge will be secured over the claimant’s property as security for the Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loan. The legal charge will rank below any pre-existing charges on the property including the mortgage. Pre-existing charge holders will always have priority in recovering their debt from the equity when a house is sold or in the event of bankruptcy and if the amount of equity available after the sale of the property is less than the amount due to be recovered the balance will be written off. Where a customer in receipt of SMI loan becomes bankrupt or enters an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) there is provision for SMI loan payments to continue if the claimant has a continuing liability to make mortgage repayments. The Department does not anticipate that the introduction of SMI loans will lead to an increase in the number of homes that are repossessed.

Personal Independence Payment: Mental Illness

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that mental health conditions are adequately accounted for in personal independence payment assessments.

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government plans to include a section on mental health in the personal independence payment form.

Sarah Newton: The assessment for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) considers the overall impact of a claimant’s health condition or impairment on their functional ability, rather than focusing on a particular diagnosis. Therefore the PIP assessment takes account of the impact of mental health conditions as well as physical disabilities. Equally, the PIP assessment forms that underpin the assessment include provision to consider mental health issues as well as physical issues. 66% of PIP recipients with mental health conditions get the enhanced rate daily living component, compared with 22% who received the highest DLA care component, and 31% of PIP recipients with mental health conditions get the enhanced rate mobility rate, compared with just 10% of DLA recipients.

Department for Work and Pensions: Internet

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the value of her Department's cloud-hosting contracts with (a) Amazon Web Services, (b) Oracle Fusion, (c) Microsoft Azure, (d) Vodafone, (e) DXC, (f) SCC and (g) UKCloud was in financial years (i) 2012-2013, (ii) 2013-2014, (iii) 2014-2015, (iv) 2015-2016 and (v) 2016-2017.

Kit Malthouse: The table below shows current spending and the dates covered for each line of information. Unfortunately the information is not available in the exact format requested. Prior to 2016 there was no spend on cloud hosting with the companies mentioned in the question. Oracle Fusion, SCC and Vodafone were all nil spend. DWP does not have cloud hosting contracts with those companies.  DescriptionDates coveredSpendAmazon Web ServicesG-Cloud 6 – IaaS (Information as a Service)10/6/16 to 09/06/18c£1.0mG-Cloud 7 – Professional Services10/06/16 to 09/06/18£1.2mG-Cloud 8 – Hosting01/06/17 to 31/05-18c£1.0mG-Cloud 9 – Cloud compute01/08/17 to 31/07/19£3.9mMicrosoft Azure Server Cloud Enrolment (SCE) agreement01/01/17 to 31/12/19£40kDXCG-Cloud 7 - MVS Mainframe platform as a Service hosting12/12/16 to 31/12/17£12mG-Cloud 8 - VME mainframe platform as a service hosting01/05/17 to 31/12/17£5mG-Cloud 7 - x86 midrange platform as a service hosting01/05/17 to 31/12/17£4mUK CloudG-Cloud 8 – Hosting15/07/16 to 31/08/17£3.0mG-Cloud 9 – Hosting01/09/17 to 31/12/17£0.63mG-Cloud 8 – Children, Health and Pensions Systems16/04/17 to 15/04/18£0.8mCAN001 – Date extension to G9 Hosting01/01/18 to 01/06/18Nil spend

Mortgages: Government Assistance

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much notice claimants were given on the end of support for mortgage interest as a benefit.

Kit Malthouse: The changes to Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) were initially set out in the Summer Budget published in July 2015. The Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 enabled the Loan for Mortgage Interest Regulations to be laid in July 2017. A managed information provision process began in July 2017 to inform all existing recipients of Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) benefit of the new scheme. Claimants are sent information about how the SMI loan will work, about possible alternatives to the loan and organisations that may offer further information and support. This is followed up by telephone calls from Serco to explain the information and answer any questions. A leaflet containing Frequently Asked Questions is issued after this informed discussion. Where a claimant expresses an interest in taking up the offer of an SMI loan they will be sent a loan agreement and charge form, including all terms and conditions, to complete and return. They also receive detailed guidance on how to complete these documents. The regulations contain provision for all claimants to be given at least 6 weeks (longer in some cases) from the loan offer to make a decision whether to accept or decline an SMI loan before their SMI benefit payments cease.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of claimants of  support for mortgage interest claimants have (i) received advice on their options for alternative support when support for mortgage interest ends and (ii) applied for replacement loan payments.

Kit Malthouse: To date, the department has sent information to around 109,000 claimants at the address at which they have been claiming Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI). Around 95% of the live caseload have been contacted and we continue to take steps to contact the remaining claimants. The remaining 5% of cases include those where we have so far been unable to make contact for a variety of reasons, such as where we need to obtain a current telephone number for the claimant. As of week commencing 5th March 2018, over 10,100 claimants (around 11% of the live caseload) have stated their intention to take up the offer of an SMI loan.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support will be provided for mortgage interest claimants when the current scheme ends from April.

Kit Malthouse: Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) claimants will have the option to take up the offer of an SMI loan when the SMI benefit scheme ends. The new loan scheme will continue to provide robust protection against repossession to all eligible claimants in times of need, with the level of support available being calculated in the same way as under the current system. Claimants and mortgage lenders will not see any difference in the payments they receive and will not be required to repay the loan until their property is sold or transferred subject to the availability of sufficient equity to repay the loan. The regulations contain transitional provision to enable existing claimants of SMI a temporary period in which they can still receive SMI as a benefit. Where an existing claimant lacks mental capacity to make decisions about entering into the loan agreement, the regulations enable SMI benefit to continue until an appropriate person is appointed to act on the claimant’s behalf. The provisions also ensure that all claimants are given at least six weeks from their loan offer date to decide whether or not to take up the offer of an SMI loan. Many claimants will have had significantly longer than this minimum time period to make a decision.

Occupational Pensions: Private Sector

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many private sector final salary schemes have been declared failed in every year for which data is available.

Guy Opperman: Following a qualifying employer insolvency event, a pension scheme undergoes a Pension Protection Fund ‘assessment period’, where the Pension Protection Fund determine whether it must assume responsibility for the scheme. The table below lists the number of pension schemes that went into a Pension Protection Fund ‘assessment period’ in the last 12 years. YearNumber of Schemes that entered PPF assessment 2005-06732006-071602007-081182008-091362009-101352010-111702011-121292012-131012013-141002014-15582015-16472016-1746

Motability: Coventry South

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Coventry South constituency returned their Motability car in each year since 2010.

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Coventry South Constituency had a motability car in each year since 2010.

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Coventry South Constituency had access to a motability car removed in each year since 2010.

Sarah Newton: This information is not readily available at constituency level and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Melanie Onn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many recipients of Support for Mortgage Interest have applied for a loan since the introduction of that loan.

Kit Malthouse: As of week commencing 5th March 2018, over 10,100 claimants have stated their intention to take up the offer of an SMI loan. Around 109,000 claimants have been contacted and approximately 16,000 are considering their options.

Christchurch Hospital: Personal Independence Payment

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Macmillan Unit at Christchurch Hospital, registered charity number 268218, qualifies as a hospice for the purposes of personal independence payments entitlement for inpatients in the care of that Unit; and if he will make a statement.

Sarah Newton: According to the Macmillan Unit’s website, the National Health Service (NHS) funds core services meaning that the Unit would not be treated as a hospice within the terms of regulation 30 of the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/377). Where someone is maintained free of charge while undergoing medical or other treatment as an in-patient in a hospital or similar institution funded by the NHS, payment of (but not entitlement to) the daily living and mobility components of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) cease after 28 days. This is on the basis that the NHS is responsible for the entirety of the person’s disability-related extra costs and to pay PIP in addition would be a duplication of public funds intended for the same purpose.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of Support for Mortgage Interest there are in (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) Wales, (d) Scotland, (e) Northern Ireland  and (f) each region of England.

Kit Malthouse: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 22 February 2018 to Question 128199 (http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-02-19/128199/)

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of support for mortgage interest receive (a) Pension Credit, (b) income-based employment and support allowance and its equivalent in Universal Credit, (c) income-based jobseeker's allowance and (d) income support.

Kit Malthouse: Information on caseloads for Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) caseloads estimates is in table 3c here: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of all mortgage interest claimants have taken out the loan offered by her Department to replace the benefit they currently receive.

Kit Malthouse: As of week commencing 5th March 2018, over 10,100 claimants (around 11% of the live caseload) have stated their intention to take up the offer of an SMI loan and approximately 16,000 are considering their options.

Employment and Support Allowance

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 February 2018 to Question 127002, on Employment Support Allowance: Correspondence, how many claimants of support for mortgage interest were not contacted by letter by the target date of the end of February.

Kit Malthouse: To date, the department has sent information to around 95% SMI claimants at the address at which they are claiming SMI benefit. In the remaining 5% of cases (approximately 5,500 cases) we have so far been unable to contact these claimants for a variety of reasons such as where we need to obtain a current telephone number for the claimant. We are in the process of writing to these claimants and continue to make every effort to contact them. All claimants will be given at least 6 weeks from their loan offer date to consider their options and make a decision whether to take the offer of an SMI loan.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many support for mortgage interest claimants have been contacted by (a) letter and (b) follow-up phone conversation.

Kit Malthouse: As of week commencing 5th March 2018, approximately 109,000 existing Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) claimants have been sent information at the address where they have been claiming SMI benefit. Claimants are sent information about how the SMI loan will work, about possible alternatives to the loan and organisations that may offer further information and support. This is followed up by telephone calls from Serco to explain the information and answer any questions. A leaflet containing Frequently Asked Questions is issued after this informed discussion. Around 95% of the live caseload have been contacted and we continue to take steps to contact the remaining claimants. As of the same period, approximately 53,500 claimants have had a follow-up telephone informed discussion.

Universal Credit

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants have enrolled on the universal credit in-work progression service, and what the recorded outcomes are for those claimants.

Alok Sharma: DWP is currently running a randomised control trial which tests support for people to progress whilst in work. An evaluation, which will include the number of participants and the outcomes of the trial, will be published in Summer 2018.

Universal Credit: Disqualification

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants in employment have been sanctioned in the most recent three-month period for which data is available.

Alok Sharma: Universal Credit provides us with the opportunity to support people to progress, and we are building the evidence about what works, most substantially through a large-scale Randomised Control Trial (RCT). This trial tests different degrees of in-work support and conditionality by supporting people to progress by providing work coach support and setting mandatory requirements to make sure that individuals take reasonable action that should help them to earn more where appropriate. The following link provides figures for the data collected so far on sanctions for in work claimants: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/in-work-progression-trial-update-april-2015-to-october-2016 This shows that up to November 2016, 319 sanctions had been applied to 15,455 trial participants, approximately 2%. Further statistical information regarding the number of sanctions and suspensions for in-work claimants within the randomised control trial will be published in summer 2018.

Home Office

National Security

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what national delegations the College of Policing and its predecessor body supported with training, advice or consultancy at the annual Security and Policing Event in each year since 2010.

Mr Nick Hurd: The question is a matter for the College of Policing to answer, however the College has not identified any training, advice or consultancy that it has delivered to national delegations at the Security and Policing Event

College of Policing

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, to what countries the College of Policing and its predecessor body has provided (a) training, (b) advice and (c) consultancy services in each year since 2010.

Mr Nick Hurd: The question is a matter for the College of Policing to answer, but I can confirm that while the College does not provide standalone advice or consultancy services, it does provide bespoke training packages to international partners.

Home Office: Welsh Language

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what translation arrangements her Department has put in place to enable efficient and accurate handling of Welsh language correspondence from (a) MPs and (b) the general public.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office is committed to ensuring that the needs of Welsh language speakers are recognised and met, in accordance with the requirements of our Welsh Language Scheme.The Home Office is committed to providing an equally high standard of service in Welsh and English. The Department’s Welsh Language Scheme states: ‘Members of the public who deal with the Home Office will be able and welcome to do so in Welsh as well as English. If a member of the public in Wales writes to the Department in Welsh, the Department will:reply in Welsh; anddo so within the same target date for replies as for those who write in English.’This principle is applied to all correspondence that is received by the department, including e-mail as well as paper correspondence.Should an MP correspond with the department in Welsh, the department will respond in Welsh and will do so within the same target date for those who write in English. All of our Welsh translations are provided by a specialist external service.

Drugs: West Midlands

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Office, with reference to the report, Reducing Crime and Preventing Harm: West Midlands Drug Policy Recommendations, published in February 2018, whether she plans to bring forward proposals for the introduction of city centre drug testing facilities at night time economy venues.

Victoria Atkins: Drugs are illegal and there is scientific and medical evidence that they are harmful to health and society. The possession of any amount of a controlled drug is a criminal offence and the supply of a controlled drug (with intent to supply to others) is an even more serious offence. No illegal drug-taking can be assumed to be safe and there is no safe way to take them.The Government’s approach remains clear: we must prevent illicit drug use in our communities and help those dependent to recover, while ensuring that our drugs laws are enforced. While operational decisions are a matter for Chief Constables, the Government and the public expect the police to enforce the law.

Crime: Rural Areas

Laura Pidcock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of rural crime on farmers in (a) the North East and (b) North West Durham.

Victoria Atkins: The Government has not undertaken an assessment of the effect of rural crime on farmers in the North East or North West Durham. However, the 2015 Commercial Victimisation Survey found that 24 per cent of agriculture, forestry and fishing premises in England and Wales had experienced at least one incident of crime (excluding online crime) which represented a statistically significant fall of six percentage points compared with the 2013 Survey. Vandalism, theft and burglary were the most common crime types experienced by this sector.On average there were 330 incidents of online crime per 1,000 premises in this sector, which is around a third of the incidence rate for ‘traditional’ crimes against this sector. The majority of online crime incidents involved computer viruses.Findings from the 2017 Commercial Victimisation Survey will be published later this year and this will include more up-to-date findings.

Sexual Harassment

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of record-keeping by the police in relation to up-skirting.

Mr Nick Hurd: We expect the police to record and investigate all crimes that are reported to them. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies and Fire and Rescue Services inspect all forces to assess the integrity of their recorded crime data.

Inquiries: Rules of Procedure

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the number of restriction (a) notices and (b) orders her Department has issued to restrict inquiries under (i) section 19(1)(a) and (ii) section 19(1)(b) of the Inquiries Act 2005 since 2016 (A) in total and (B) for the Undercover Policing Inquiry.

Victoria Atkins: Since 2016, the Secretary of State for the Home Department has not used the power to impose a restriction notice under section 19(2)(a) of the Inquiries Act 2005.Under Section 19(2)(b) of the Inquiries Act 2005, a restriction order may be imposed by the Chairman during the course of an Inquiry. The publication of a restriction order is a matter for the issuing Inquiry; independent from Government.

Independent Anti-slavery Commissioner

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 February to Question 127593, on Independent Anti-slavery Commissioner, how many meetings were held between Ministers and the Anti-Slavery Commissioner in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018; and what the dates of those meetings were.

Victoria Atkins: Home Office Ministers have regular meetings as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.

Community Policing

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve the visibility of police officers in local communities.

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve (a) trust and (b) confidence between police and local communities.

Mr Nick Hurd: It is for operationally independent Chief Constables to decide how to best deploy officers in their force area to effectively serve and engage their communities and to build their trust and confidence. Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are elected by the public to hold Chief Constables and the force to account; making the police answerable to the communities they serve.The 2018/9 police funding settlement will increase funding by up to £450m across the police system. This will enable an increase of up to £270m going directly to PCCs.

Knives: Crime

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to publish a knife crime strategy in response to recent fatalities in London.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Secretary will be publishing a new Serious Violence Strategy this Spring. The Strategy will emphasise the need to support early intervention as part of a multiple strand approach involving law enforcement and communities. The strategy will set out a range of initiatives to respond to serious violence including key actions on knife crime.

Police Community Support Officers: Greater London

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many community support police officers there were in each London borough in each of the last five years.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of police community support officers employed by each police force in England and Wales on a bi-annual basis. These data are published in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletins, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-walesThe Home Office does not collect this information at the borough level. The latest data available on the number of police community support officers in the Metropolitan Police Service and City of London Police, as at 30 September, can be found in Table 1 of the accompanying Data Tables:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-workforce-england-and-wales-30-september-2017Previous years data, as at 31 March each year, can be found in the accompanying Open Data Table: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/629362/open-data-table-police-workforce.ods

Home Office: Carillion

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which of her Department's contracts with Carillion since January 2016 were done with Open Book Contract Management.

Victoria Atkins: Since 2016, the Home Office's ‘Total Facilities Management (Southern Region)’ contract with Carillion has operated with Open Book Contract Management.

Domestic Violence

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the timetable is for the publication of the Government's Domestic Abuse Bill, announced by the Prime Minister on 17 February 2017.

Victoria Atkins: The Government is committed to ensuring that survivors of domestic abuse receive the help and support they need. On 8 March we launched our consultation on a draft Domestic Abuse Bill, seeking views on how we can better protect victims of domestic abuse and take robust action against perpetrators.

Libya: Unexplained Wealth Orders

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for The Home Department, if she will issue unexplained wealth orders in respect of members of the Gaddafi Family and Libyan associates who reside in the UK or who claim ownership of assets frozen in the UK.

Mr Ben Wallace: The recent introduction of the unexplained wealth order in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 is an important additional tool in asset recovery relating to corruption and serious crime.This new investigation tool is not a power available to Ministers but rather to certain law enforcement and prosecution agencies such as the National Crime Agency, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office. The Government cannot comment on the potential or actual use of investigation powers in individual cases.

Fire Prevention: Inspections

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, who has responsibility for buildings fire inspections.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to all non-domestic premises in England and Wales, including the communal areas of multi-occupied residential buildings. Local fire and rescue authorities are the enforcing authority for the majority of premises to which the Order applies and are required to have a risk based inspection programme and management strategy in place to ensure compliance in their area.Article 25 of the Order sets out the instances where bodies other than fire and rescue authorities are the enforcing authority.

Housing: Fire Prevention

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the key risk factors that are associated with fires in domestic properties; and how that information can be used for fire prevention.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office has published a report on trends affecting fires and fire-related fatalities: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/650869/focus-trends-fires-fatalities-oct17.pdf which suggested that some of the main factors which may be associated with fires are cooking habits, smoke alarm ownership, smoking, drug and alcohol use, arson, age and overcrowding. It also identified safety standards (furniture and furnishings), building regulations, preventative work and education as measures that have helped to mitigate fire risk. In addition the Home Office publishes statistical tables on the cause of fires here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-data-tables#cause-of-fire.Analysis of fire statistics and research informs the development of the national fire safety campaign, run by the Home Office in partnership with the National Fire Chiefs Council and local fire and rescue services. Understanding fire risk and those most vulnerable to fire allows the campaign to be tailored and targeted accordingly.Fire prevention is core business for every fire and rescue authority. Each uses local intelligence and experience to determine what interventions will best prevent and reduce the risks from fire in their communities. Each authority must evaluate local risks and determine its priorities, policies and standards for fire prevention, protection and operational services and allocate its resources accordingly.

Islam: Publications

Naz Shah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department provided (a) support and (b) funding for the (i) writing, (ii) production and (iii) promotion of the book, The Battle for British Islam by Sarah Khan.

Mr Ben Wallace: The Home Office responded to a freedom of information request made by Sara Khan, and provided a pack of standard lines used by Prevent Coordinators. The Home Office did not provide funding for the writing, production, or promotion of Sara Khan’s book.

Counter-terrorism

Naz Shah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when (a) Sara Khan and (b) Inspire was made a preferred provider for any (i) counter-terrorism and (ii) counter-extremism​ programmes.

Mr Ben Wallace: The Research Information Communications Unit does not have preferred providers.

Police: Training

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of police officers in each police force have completed mandatory mental health training.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not centrally hold the information requested.

Dogs: Theft

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to reduce dog theft in the last 12 months.

Victoria Atkins: The Government understands the distress that can be caused by the theft of a pet. It is therefore important that these crimes, when they take place, are reported to the police so that they can be investigated and, where appropriate, the perpetrators taken through the courts and given appropriate sentences.In 2017-18 the Government is providing police forces in England and Wales with direct Government funding worth over £7.5 billion to tackle all types of crime. As far as the police response to individual incidents are concerned, it is for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners, as operational leaders and elected local representatives, to decide how best to deploy resources to manage and respond to crime and local priorities.

Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people detained in Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre in 2017 had been (a) detained for (i) 0-3 months, (ii) 3-5 months, (iii) 5-7 months; (iv) 7-9 months, (v) 9-12 months and (vi) 12 months or more, (b) released from detention without removal and (c) removed from the country.

Caroline Nokes: Information on the people leaving detention, by length of detention is available in table dt_06 of the detention tables.Information on people leaving detention, by reason and place of last detention is available in table dt_07 of the detention tablesThe latest data, published in ‘Immigration Statistics, October to December 2017’, are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/681703/detention-oct-dec-2017-tables.ods

Immigrants: Detainees

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were detained in immigration removal centres in 2017; and of those people so detained, how many were subsequently granted refugee or humanitarian protection status.

Caroline Nokes: The UK has a proud history to providing refuge to those who need our protection. Information on the number of asylum claims, subsequent grants of asylum and humanitarian protection, irrespective of whether the individual was detained, is available in table as_01 of the latest release of the ‘Immigration Statistics, October to December 2017’. This is available on the Home Office website at; https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2017-data-tablesInformation on people entering detention in 2017 is available in table dt_01 of the detention tables in the latest release of ‘Immigration Statistics, October to December 2017’, available from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/681703/detention-oct-dec-2017-tables.ods. The table shows the figures broken down by those people who had claimed asylum at some point.Detention is used as an appropriate measure of immigration control however the number of people granted asylum or humanitarian protection after being detained is not currently published and would require a manual check of each record.

Immigrants: Detainees

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many detainees in immigration removal centres in 2017 were pregnant women.

Caroline Nokes: Through section 60 of the Immigration Act 2016, which came into force on 12 July 2016, we have placed a 72 hour limit on the detention of pregnant women for the purposes of removal, extendable to up to a week in total with Ministerial authorisation.It may not always be appropriate for healthcare professionals to disclose confidential medical information that the patient has asked not to be disclosed. Subject to these limitations, Home Office management information indicates that fewer than 55 pregnant women were detained in the immigration detention estate in 2017. These statistics have been taken from a live operational database. As such, numbers may change as information on that system is updated.The section 60 limitations, along with a new policy on adults at risk in detention, and other improvements to case working processes, represent a comprehensive package of safeguards for pregnant women in the immigration system.Home Officials will work with any individual at any time, including those whom we detain, to assist with their return, if they decide to leave the UK voluntarily.

Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of those detained in Yarl's Wood detention centre in the last 12 months (a) had a criminal conviction and (b) were awaiting trial for a criminal offence.

Caroline Nokes: Providing the information requested would require a manual check of individual records which could only be done at disproportionate cost.The Home Office routinely publish the total number of foreign nationals detained in Yarl’s Wood IRC. This information can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2017/how-many-people-are-detained-or-returned#detentionThe Home Office routinely publish quarterly figures on the total number of foreign national offenders transferred to immigration detention. Figures for the latest publication can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-enforcement-data-february-2018The Ministry of Justice routinely publish the total number of foreign nationals on remand in prison. This information can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2017

Police: Pay

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of the 17 October 2017 to Question 107605, on Police: Pay, what estimate she has made of the cost to each individual force of the (a) one percent increase in basic pay and (b) additional one percent non-consolidated payment.

Mr Nick Hurd: The cost will depend on a range of factors including local decisions about staffing and deployment which are the responsibility of Chief Constables working with their Police and Crime Commissioners.

Sexual Offences: Newcastle Upon Tyne

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to respond to the recommendations relating to her Department in the Spicer review on sexual exploitation in Newcastle, published in February 2018.

Victoria Atkins: Child sexual exploitation is abhorrent and the crimes perpetrated in Newcastle have had a devastating impact on the lives of the victims. The Government acknowledges the seriousness of the issues raised in this serious case review and is committed to improving the national response to tackling sexual exploitation.We have already taken significant action to tackle this issue. In February 2017, the Government published its Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation: Progress Report and announced a £40m package of measures to protect children and young people from sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking, and to crack down on offenders. This included £7.5m for a new, ground-breaking Centre of Expertise that will identify, generate, and share high quality evidence of what works to prevent and tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation. The recommendations of the review cover a wide range of issues, which we will consider carefully in the context of this existing programme of work.

Asylum: Detainees

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received on threats of expedited deportation made to asylum seekers and refugees held in immigration detention centres.

Caroline Nokes: Home Office officials regularly meet a range of stakeholders to discuss matters relating to the asylum and returns issues.All asylum claims lodged in the UK will be carefully considered on their individual merits and we will not remove anyone who has a well-founded fear of persecution or who would face serious harm in their country of origin.For all detained cases, continual case progression and regular detention reviews ensure that time in detention is minimised. Published guidance makes clear that asylum claims managed in detention should be progressed as quickly as the circumstances of the case allow while ensuring a fair process.

Passports

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for (a) adult and (b) child standard passports were made (i) online and (ii) by paper application in each year since 2001.

Caroline Nokes: Our records indicate the volume of non-priority service standard passport applications received by HMPO for calendar years 2015, 2016 and 2017 are as follows:OnlineAdultChildTotal20151,341,274434,1431,775,41720161,515,233464,9281,980,16120171,432,173370,4901,802,663Paper   20152,928,1311,403,3654,331,49620162,760,7711,316,2694,077,04020172,566,2811,315,4833,881,764Total12,543,8635,304,67817,848,541Please note that Paper applications include Direct Postal and Post Office applications.Data is only available from 2015. We are unable to provide data for the period 2001 to 2014 as requested as it is not available on our system. In order for us to extract the information and have this data categorised as requested would take Her Majesty’s Passport Office over the £850 limit for enquiries.

Alfie Dingley

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will consider granting a special license to Alife Dingley to enable him to take part in a bespoke trial that will give him access to medicinal cannabis.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Government has a huge amount of sympathy for the rare and difficult situation that Alfie and his family are faced with. I am exploring all options and have met Alfie’s family to discuss treatments that may be accessible for him. Any treatment would need to be led by senior clinicians using sufficient and rigorous evidence.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office: Internet

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many and what proportion of her Department’s cloud-hosting contracts have been awarded to (a) hyperscale cloud providers and (b) UK SMEs; and what the value was of those contracts in each of the last three years.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The Northern Ireland Office does not centrally collect the specific data requested.

Northern Ireland Office: Domestic Visits

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, with reference to page 48 of the Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Bill, how much her Department has spent on VIP visits to Northern Ireland in each year since 2010.

Mr Shailesh Vara: Expenditure totals on VVIP/VIP visits to Northern Ireland by my Department since 2010 are listed below: YearExpenditure2010/11£2,0392011/12£2,1432012/13£1,5542013/14£5612014/15*£7,7092015/16**£9,2462016/17£16,1732017/18£14,521 to date *The significant increase from 2014/15 reflects a new contractual arrangement between the NIO and the newly established independent charity, Historic Royal Palaces, (which includes Hillsborough Castle in its portfolio of properties) for accommodation and hospitality. **From 2015/16, the total includes contracted transport expenditure that in previous years was provided in-house.

Treasury

Business Bank Italy

Anneliese Dodds: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on the date (a) when the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) authorised BUSINESS BANK ITALY LTD (Company number 06623736) to conduct business in the UK, (b) on which the FCA sent its non-objection letter to bank directors, (c) of any capital adequacy stress tests, (d) of visits by FCA officials to the bank, (e) of discussions with auditors of the bank, (f) on which the FCA examined that bank's financial statements, (g) on which that bank was enrolled into the Depositor Protection Scheme and (h) on which FCA officials viewed that bank’s website.

John Glen: This is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), who are independent from Government. We have passed the honourable lady’s question on to the FCA, who will reply directly to her by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Business Premises Renovation Allowance

Stephen Doughty: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value was of reliefs provided under the Business Premises Renovation Allowance scheme in each of the 24 months prior to its closure in April 2017.

Mel Stride: Information on the cost of Business Premises Renovation Allowance (BPRA) is published in the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) National Statistics table ‘Estimated Cost of Minor Tax Reliefs’, available on GOV.UK, including estimates for 2016-17 and 2017-18. Data are not available on a monthly basis. The full publication can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/675227/Dec_17_Minor_Reliefs_Final.pdf

Unemployment

Catherine McKinnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2018 to Question 129428, what assessment he has made of the recent trends  in (a) unemployment overall and (b) the number of unemployed women recorded in the figures from the Office for National Statistics published in February 2018.

Elizabeth Truss: The ONS estimates of short term changes to unemployment are subject to some uncertainty. As such it is more meaningful to look at longer term trends. Since 2010 total unemployment has fallen by one million, and unemployment for women has fallen by 0.3 million. Alongside this, female employment has risen by around 1.5 million to a joint record of 15.1 million, and total employment has increased by 3 million.

Children: Day Care

Catherine McKinnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 23 February 2018 to Question 128525 on Children: Day Care, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of childcare support to those that do not have access to the internet.

Elizabeth Truss: HMRC and DfE are delivering a communications and engagement programme. This campaign caters both for parents with and without access to the internet. Parents without internet access will be able to obtain information from their employers, childcare providers, industry stakeholders, parent groups and local authorities who HMRC has provided with information and downloadable leaflets.HMRC and DfE are also working with the Family Information Service, Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG), Citizens Advice Bureaux and Job Centre Plus to raise awareness of the childcare support available to families.

Cryptocurrencies

Catherine McKinnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of regulating the use of cryptocurrencies in the UK.

John Glen: As with all policies, the Government keeps its policy towards cryptocurrencies under review. The Government believes any regulation should be proportionate and risk-based.

Social Rented Housing: Rents

Sir Greg Knight: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will issue guidance to local authorities on working constructively with firms participating in the Rent Recognition Challenge to help social housing tenants expand their credit performance records by enabling such firms to gain access to payment performance data; and if he will make a statement.

John Glen: The Government does not currently intend to issue guidance to local authorities on this issue. However, the Government does encourage local authorities to work constructively with firms providing rent recognition services, including those participating in the Rent Recognition Challenge. It is right that tenants, where they choose to do so, should have the ability to ensure that their history of paying rent is recorded and recognised in their credit files.

Self-employed: East Ham

Stephen Timms: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people in the East Ham constituency are self-employed; and what proportion that number makes up of (a) those in work and (b) the working age population.

Mel Stride: It is estimated that the number of self employed taxpayers in the parliamentary constituency of East Ham is approximately 8,500. This represents around 16% of all taxpayers in work in East Ham, and an estimated 8% of all individuals of working age in East Ham. Figures relate to the 2014-15 tax year, which is currently the latest information available.

Apprentices: Minimum Wage

Catherine McKinnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) male and (b) female apprentices were paid less than the minimum wage in (i) the North East and (ii) the UK in the last 12 months.

Catherine McKinnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many companies in (a) the North East and (b) the UK are paying less than the minimum wage for apprenticeship programmes.

Mel Stride: The government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum and Living Wage (NMW) receives it. Anyone who feels they have been underpaid NMW should contact the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100. HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs) review all complaints that are referred to them. In 2016-17 HMRC closed 78 NMW investigations where NMW arrears were identified and that were recorded in relation to apprentices. The 75 male and 158 female workers affected would have been a mix of apprentices and regular workers. HMRC are unable to provide a separate breakdown on how many of these workers were apprentices, or to provide in year enforcement data for 2017-18. HMRC does not record statistics on complaints or investigations by reference to countries of the United Kingdom, Government regions, constituencies or counties.

Children: Day Care

Tracy Brabin: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2018 to Question 129573 on Children: Day Care, whether the reason for closing an account is recorded.

Tracy Brabin: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many tax-free childcare accounts were opened in February 2018.

Elizabeth Truss: HMRC does not currently record the reason why a childcare account is closed. 12,188 families opened Tax-Free Childcare accounts in February 2018.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Northamptonshire County Council: Public Libraries

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of whether Northamptonshire County Council is meeting its statutory requirements under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service.

Matt Hancock: The Department has received a number of representations following Northamptonshire County Council’s decision to revise its library service provision. We are carefully considering the representations to determine whether they will be treated as a formal complaint under the 1964 Act. If so, the Department will begin the process of investigating the complaint.

Northamptonshire County Council: Public Libraries

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent representations he has received from representatives of Northamptonshire County Council library staff.

Matt Hancock: The Department has received a number of representations concerning Northamptonshire County Council’s recently agreed changes to the library service provision in Northamptonshire. However there is no indication that any have been submitted by a member of the library staff.

Charities: Data Protection

Sir David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government has taken to ensure charities are able to access necessary support after General Data Protection Regulations legislation becomes effective on 25 May 2018.

Margot James: All UK businesses together with all organisations that process personal data will be required to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) after 25th May 2018 and the UK's full data protection regime as set out in the Data Protection Bill. However, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) have made it clear that GDPR compliance will be an ongoing journey. The ICO provides guidance and support to UK organisations and have already published a number of resources on the Commissioner's website (ico.org.uk) to help organisations prepare. The ICO has: launched a dedicated helpline service for smaller organisations; updated its 'SME toolkit' to reflect the requirements of the GDPR; simplified its "12-step" GDPR preparation guidance; and published tailored advice for charities.  The ICO will continue to provide support for organisations on the new laws.

UN Convention for Protection of Cultural Property in Event of Armed Conflict

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress his Department has made on the implementation of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the event of armed conflict.

Michael Ellis: The Convention and its Protocols came into force for the UK on 12th December 2017. In November 2017, we announced and published measures to ensure the effective implementation of the Convention, including a list of cultural property in the UK which we consider to be protected by the Convention and measures to regulate the use of the cultural emblem and protect its integrity.

Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press Inquiry

Ian C. Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish the (a) correspondence and (b) minutes of meetings between (a) himself, (b) Ministers of his Department and (c) officials in his Department and Sir Brian Leveson on (A) the commencement of Part 2 of the Leveson Inquiry and (B) Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013.

Margot James: The Government's correspondence with Sir Brian on the future of the Leveson Inquiry has been published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-the-leveson-inquiry-and-its-implementation. There is no correspondence relating to section 40 as it would not be appropriate for Sir Brian, as a serving judge, to express a view on the legislative proposals of government. DCMS and Home Office ministers have met with Sir Brian numerous times since the Inquiry was established to discuss a range of issues, and his views have been set out in the Government response to the consultation.

Digital Technology: EU Internal Trade

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential (a) risks and (b) opportunities that not participating in the EU digital single market presents for the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Margot James: The UK economy is fundamentally strong, with a highly competitive digital sector. The Government is determined to ensure that businesses have stability and certainty in the period leading up to the UK’s departure from the EU, and that we use the opportunities that departure presents for the whole of the UK’s digital and technology industries. On digital, the UK will not be part of the EU's Digital Single Market, because we will be leaving the Single Market. The Government is undertaking a comprehensive programme of analytical work, looking at the implications of UK withdrawal from the EU. We are seeking input from a wide range of businesses and industry bodies in order to inform our negotiations with the EU.

Internet: Security

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which (a) organisations and (b) Departments were consulted in the development of the report Secure by Design: Improving the cybersecurity of consumer Internet of Things.

Margot James: The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, in conjunction with the National Cyber Security Centre, worked in close collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, including government, industry partners, consumer organisations, academics and technical experts. The report’s publication, and draft Code of Practice, is intended to stimulate further dialogue with industry, academia and civil society over the coming months, with comments sought by 25 April 2018. This will ensure Government and industry activity support the review and that it collectively balances the need to create effective incentives for manufacturers, the supply chain and retailers, while continuing to encourage innovation in new technologies.

Internet: Security

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, who will be responsible for assessing whether the security guidelines set out in the report Improving the cyber security of consumer Internet of Things have been delivered by Internet of Things producers; and what criteria will be used to make that assessment.

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what enforcement measures are being considered  as a result of the report, Secure by Design: Improving the cyber security of consumer Internet of Things.

Margot James: Following publication of the report, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport will be engaging closely with industry and other stakeholders, particularly organisations which are part of the Internet of Things supply chain, to encourage them to comply with the Code of Practice. Part of this work will involve working with industry to create supporting documentation which will detail how each of the guidelines can be implemented in practice. During 2018, we will work with industry to identify tangible ways to evaluate the uptake of the Code of Practice. A key section of the Code of Practice is to ensure that personal data is protected. This section has been drafted to be consistent with the forthcoming Data Protection Act. The Government will continue to explore how other parts of the Code can be further placed on a regulatory footing, and will draw on ongoing consultation with industry partners to inform our thinking.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Carbon Emissions

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, on Government support for (a) local authorities and (b) communities to meet the UK's targets for carbon emissions.

Claire Perry: Climate change is one of the most urgent and pressing challenges we face today, and the UK Government is committed to tackling it. The Clean Growth Strategy, published in October 2017, sets out the Government’s ambitious plans for decarbonising the economy through the 2020s. We continue to engage with Departments on implementing the strategy, including the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.The joint BEIS and MHCLG office for Cities and Local Growth works closely with Ministers from both Departments, as well as Local Enterprise Partnerships and local authorities. BEIS has launched a Local Energy Programme which will provide support to Local Enterprise Partnerships and local authorities to help them implement energy projects which benefit their communities. To date, £7m has been committed to this. Additionally a further £16m has been provided to Local Authorities by the Heat Networks Delivery Unit (HNDU) and £24m through the pilot phase of the £320m Heat Networks Investment Project (HNIP). Local Authorities can also bid for funding in the main scheme of HNIP.

Carillion: Insolvency

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the collapse of Carillon on construction projects in the Hendon constituency.

Andrew Griffiths: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has established the Carillion Taskforce, to advise on the impact on small businesses and employees affected by Carillion insolvency. The Taskforce’s attendees included representatives from leading business bodies, the construction trade sector, unions, banks and government. This has already led to useful collaborations, in particular in relation to ensuring firms and employees have access to support from Government and the banks. The nature of Carillion’s business was to sub-contract significant proportions of its work and a significant number of those sub-contractors have sub-contracted further elements. The complexity of the contracting structure is such that it is not possible for the Official Receiver at this stage in the liquidation process to have a complete picture of companies and therefore projects affected across the UK. He is continuing to work through Carillion’s systems to identify all contracts. To date, we are not currently aware of any Carillion related redundancies in Hendon.

Renewable Energy

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he will enable (a) onshore wind and (b) solar technologies to compete in the Contract for Difference mechanism.

Claire Perry: No decisions have been taken on future Contract for Difference allocation rounds for established technologies.

Coal

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the average daily proportion of the UK’s electricity which was generated from coal was for the week beginning Monday 26 February 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy does not hold data at this level of disaggregation covering all UK generation. Monthly electricity generated by Major Power Producers in February 2018 will be published in Energy Trends table 5.3 on 26th April. Total quarterly UK electricity generated in Q1 2018 will be published in Energy Trends table 5.1 on 28th June. Data will be available at this link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electricity-section-5-energy-trends. However, for the Public Distribution System in Great Britain only, Elexon’s figures show that in the week commencing 26th February 2018, on average 25.1 per cent of electricity generated was from coal each day. Source: Elexon half-hourly balancing mechanism reports, available at https://www.bmreports.com/bmrs/?q=generation/fueltype.

Business: North East

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) business start-ups and (b) business closures in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside, (iii) Tyne and Wear and (iv) the North East in each year since 2010.

Andrew Griffiths: The Office for National Statistics’ Business Demography survey details the change in number of UK businesses. When looking at business start-ups and business closures we look at business births and business deaths. The Office of National Statistics defines business births as new business registrations and business deaths as businesses that have ceased to trade. The following table gives the number of business birth and deaths in the Jarrow Constituency, South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear Metropolitan County and North East Region from 2010 to 2016.   Jarrow ConstituencySouth TynesideTyne and Wear Metropolitan CountyNorth East RegionYearNumber of Business BirthsNumber of Business DeathsNumber of Business BirthsNumber of Business DeathsNumber of Business BirthsNumber of Business DeathsNumber of Business BirthsNumber of Business Deaths20101501702903152,4602,9255,9756,92520111751603252952,9352,7057,0706,20020122001903903353,1202,9807,2657,03520132751755603004,1602,7509,6856,53020143101905653754,0803,1459,6507,07020152751905404104,1453,3409,6357,78520163302206454404,3803,76010,1808,530

Drugs: Research

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department attaches conditions to pharmaceutical research grants to ensure any medicines developed are affordable.

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment has been made of the extent to which pharmaceutical research grants from the Research Councils are used to develop drugs which are then manufactured by for-profit companies.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) support research grants via the Research councils and Innovate UK. BEIS does not impose conditions neither does the Research Councils or Innovate UK as part of their terms and conditions.Research Councils invest in basic research into the development of new drugs and treatments to the point where other organisations, often industry, fund further development. Neither BEIS nor the Research Councils have undertaken an assessment.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Internet

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of his Department’s cloud-hosting contracts have been awarded to (a) hyperscale cloud providers and (b) UK SMEs; and what the value of those contracts was in each of the last three years.

Richard Harrington: Information regarding how many and what proportion of the Department’s (BEIS) cloud-hosting contracts have been awarded to (a) hyperscale cloud providers and (b) UK SMEs: and the value of those contracts in each of the last three years, is not held in a format that can be fully and easily extracted. This could only be provided at disproportionate cost. However, we can confirm the following in relation to (a) and (b). a) From records held centrally, BEIS has four cloud hosting contracts. We regard three of these to be hyperscale providers. In total these contracts have a value of £883k for 2017/18. b) The other cloud hosting provider is an SME. This contract has a maximum value of £280k over the last three years.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Internet

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the volume of UK citizens’ data held by companies (a) supplying cloud services to his Department and (b) contracted to deliver cloud services on behalf of his Department that is subject to information requests from US Government bodies.

Richard Harrington: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy does not centrally collect the specific data requested.Information regarding contracts above the value of £10,000 is published on Contracts Finder on GOV.UK, available at https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.The Interception of Communications Commissioner and the Information Commissioner’s Office also have responsibilities in this area.

Natural Gas: Weather

Gareth Snell: To ask the Minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Business and Industry of 27 June 2017, Official Report, column 446, what the results of the weekly monitoring of the UK’s gas supply indicate for the recent cold weather period.

Claire Perry: The Government’s ongoing monitoring of the UK gas supply indicates that, despite temperatures falling well below their seasonal average at the end of February and beginning of March 2018, UK gas supplies remain responsive, and able to meet demand even during prolonged periods of extreme weather. The UK benefits from a highly diverse and flexible system of supply sources, including indigenous production, imports from Norway and the continent, storage and liquefied natural gas imports, all of which contribute to a diverse and liquid market.The Government will continue to monitor our security of gas supply.

Limited Liability: Public Consultation

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to publish a response to the consultation on the review of limited partnership law, published in January 2017.

Andrew Griffiths: The Government is actively considering options for reform and will announce next steps shortly.

Social Services: Pay

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 23 February 2018 to Question 128658 on Social Services: Pay, if he will publish the evidence on the drawbacks on requesting employers to disaggregate hours works on payslips.

Andrew Griffiths: The Department met with employers, trade unions and payroll providers over the course of 2017 and concluded it would be disproportionately burdensome to require employers to disaggregate hours on payslips. The accompanying Impact Assessment to The Employment Rights Act 1996 (Itemised Pay Statement) (Amendment) Order 2018 estimates that 88 per cent of employers already include the number of hours on payslips – some of whom are likely to disaggregate hours. This Impact Assessment is available on www.legislation.gov.uk.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: G8

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many safety, environment and social impact programmes his Department  has undertaken as part of G8 Global Partnership initiatives, since 2010.

Richard Harrington: The Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials ‍Destruction (the Global Partnership) was launched at the G8 Summit in Kananaskis, Canada in 2002 with a mandate to prevent terrorists and those that harbour them from acquiring weapons and materials of mass destruction and their means of delivery. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office holds the overall policy responsibility for the UK’s participation in the Global Partnership. Under the Global Partnership, the Ministry of Defence has managed the chemical weapon destruction and international biological security elements of the UK’s contribution, while the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy delivers work, through the UK’s Global Threat Reduction Programme, to provide assistance overseas to strengthen nuclear and radiological security. None of the programmes undertaken since 2010 by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and its predecessors, under the Global Partnership have had safety, environment or social impact as their primary purpose.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Emergencies

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much his Department spent on civil emergency planning in each year since 2010.

Richard Harrington: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and it’s predecessors has spent the following on civil emergency planning in each financial year since 2011/2012, from when data is available: Financial YearTotal Spend2011/2012£6,273,8622012/2013£9,113,4982013/2014£10,061,3332014/2015£12,577,0602015/2016£12,175,4572016/2017£14,407,1092017/2018 (Current figure spend until end of Jan)£13,749,151 These costs include both staff administrative and programme spend. Administrative spend includes salaries for those employed to work on emergency planning. Programme spend relates projects preparing for civil emergencies, including training, exercising and resourcing for emergency response.

Environment Protection: Taxation

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of not bringing forward new funds through the Levy Control Framework before 2025 on future renewable and low-carbon investment in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: The Government’s sustained support for clean energy has led to dramatic falls in the costs of some renewable electricity generation technologies. For example, Government support has helped halve the Contracts for Difference strike prices needed to bring forward new offshore wind projects. Nevertheless, the Government is committed to keeping energy costs as low as possible in order to protect consumers. In Autumn Budget 2017 the Government announced the Control for Low Carbon Levies, which sets out that there will be no new low carbon electricity levies until the burden of such costs is falling. The Control does not rule out future support for any technology. In addition, all existing contracts and contracts and commitments will be respected, including the commitment of up to £557 million (in 2011-12 prices) for further Contracts for Difference confirmed in the recent Clean Growth Strategy. The significant cost reductions that were achieved in the last Contracts for Difference auction indicate that this support could secure far more low carbon electricity than originally anticipated.

Iron and Steel: USA

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the UK steel industry of the proposed introduction of steel tariffs by President Trump.

Richard Harrington: Total US imports of steel from the UK in 2017 were 351 thousand tonnes with a value of £360m. This represents 5% of UK steel production in 2017 in tonnage. We are working closely with the steel and aluminium industries to assess the potential impact of these measures.

Limited Liability: Scotland

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many fines have been levied against Scottish Limited Partnerships for failing to register a Person of Significant Control in each of the last three years.

Andrew Griffiths: Since the duty came into force on 26 June 2017, there have been no prosecutions for offences relating to the non-disclosure of Persons of Significant Control of Scottish Limited Partnerships. Accordingly there have been no convictions or fines as yet.

Limited Liability: Scotland

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the value was of fines levied against Scottish Limited Partnerships for failing to register a Person of Significant Control in each of the last three years.

Andrew Griffiths: Since the duty came into force on 26 June 2017, there have been no prosecutions for offences relating to the non-disclosure of Persons of Significant Control of Scottish Limited Partnerships. Accordingly there have been no convictions or fines as yet.

Cats: Poisoning

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will meet with representatives of manufacturers to discuss the merits of making antifreeze less attractive to cats to prevent poisoning.

Andrew Griffiths: Antifreeze supplied for domestic use is regulated under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005. This requires it to be safe in normal or reasonably foreseeable use when placed on the market. In addition, chemical products including antifreeze are also regulated by European Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on the classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures. This aims to protect people and the environment from the effects of hazardous chemicals by requiring suppliers to provide information about the hazards present and to package them safely. The Government advises users to read the label carefully and always use in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. If there is a label on the product warning that it is harmful to consume the contents then it should also be assumed that this applies to animals. The Department would consider positively any representations from the antifreeze industry to meet to discuss the safety of their products.

GKN: Melrose

Anna McMorrin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the bid to takeover GKN Filton by Melrose on skilled jobs  provided by GKN Filton.

Andrew Griffiths: The Government is closely monitoring the situation. Due to the nature of the bid the potential impact of any change in ownership of the company is unknown. If necessary, the Government can intervene in takeovers on public interest grounds, covering national security, financial stability or media plurality.

Iron and Steel: USA

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the US’s proposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports on the British steel and aluminium industries.

Richard Harrington: Total US imports of steel from the UK in 2017 were 351 thousand tonnes with a value of £360m. This represents 5% of UK steel production in 2017, in tonnage. For aluminium, the equivalent figures were nine thousand tonnes with a value of £29m. We are working closely with the steel and aluminium industries to assess the potential impact of these measures.

Energy: Meters

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of imposing fines on energy companies that do not meet their smart meter roll-out obligations.

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of ensuring that fines levied on energy companies for failing to meet their smart meter roll-out targets are not passed on to consumers through higher bills; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: Energy suppliers’ licence conditions require them to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to roll-out smart meters to all their domestic and small business customers by 31 December 2020. Ofgem is responsible for regulating energy suppliers against this obligation. Ofgem will make decisions on whether to take action against energy suppliers that do not comply with their smart meter obligations in line with their Enforcement Guidelines. This is consistent with the approach taken on any other regulatory breaches by energy suppliers. A number of factors are taken into account including customer detriment. Ofgem’s Enforcement Guidelines are available here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/enforcement-guidelines

Tidal Power: Swansea Bay

Sir Vince Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what meetings his Department has held with the Welsh Government after the Welsh Government offered to allocate funding for a pathfinder tidal lagoon at Swansea Bay.

Claire Perry: Ministers and officials in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy regularly discuss matters of mutual interest with their counterparts in the devolved administrations.

Conditions of Employment: Weather

Ged Killen: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the Government's policy is on employers requesting workers to travel into work during a red weather warning.

Andrew Griffiths: We would encourage employers to exercise common sense and consider the advice given by agencies such as the Met Office on travelling in such adverse conditions.Employers should consider their legal obligations under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act, if asking employees to travel for work.Guidance for driving at work can be found in HSE’s leaflet: INDG382 Driving for Work, www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg382.pdf

Conditions of Employment: Weather

Ged Killen: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on employers requiring staff to travel into work during a red weather warning; and if she will make a statement.

Andrew Griffiths: BEIS does not collect information on employers requiring staff to travel into work during a red weather warning.

Conditions of Employment: Weather

Ged Killen: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he make an assessment of the potential merits of extending employment rights to allow employees take leave during a red weather alert.

Andrew Griffiths: Employers should look kindly on workers who follow official guidance not to travel and treat them in good faith. I would encourage employers to come to a reasonable solution on leave that is fair to employees and right for their business.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Private Rented Housing

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what comparative assessment he has made of the proportion of households renting privately in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside and (c) the North East and (d) other areas of the UK.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: Data on households in the private rented sector in England and by region can be found on the Department's website. See ATs 1.1 and 1.2 here:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/676433/2016-17_Section_1_Households_Annex_Tables.xlsxThe Department does hold such data at local authority or constituency level.

Alcoholic Drinks: Minimum Prices

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on the merits of the introduction of minimum unit pricing for alcohol for the pub sector.

Jake Berry: My Department has not held recent discussions with the Home Office on the merits of introducing minimum unit pricing, which remains under review. The Government will consider the evidence of its impact once it is available.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Internet

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of his Department’s cloud-hosting contracts have been awarded to (a) hyperscale cloud providers and (b) UK SMEs; and what the value of those contracts was in each of the last three years.

Jake Berry: The Department has contracts in place with 2 cloud-hosting provider.Both of those are hyperscale cloud providers (100 per cent)One of those is a UK SME (50 per cent)The spend with the above providers was as follows:FY 2015 - 2016 £761,903.15 inc VATFY 2016 - 2017 £891,843.06 inc VATFY 2017 - 2018 £1,486,818.54 inc VAT

Building Regulations: Fire Prevention

Ms Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of desktop studies in determining fire safety compliance within building regulations.

Dominic Raab: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Local Enterprise Partnerships

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the performance of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs); and if he will publish a ranking of LEPs against that assessment.

Jake Berry: Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) are a valued part of the local institutional framework and play an important role in delivering our ambition for growth in all parts of England. This Government has provided £12 billion through the Local Growth Fund to deliver over 1000 projects across the country.We have a robust process for monitoring LEP performance. This is based on engagement with local teams who provide LEPs with day to day support, quarterly LEP monitoring returns relating to their Growth Deal projects, and an annual performance review. These processes lead to an agreed set of actions and next steps to ensure that LEPs continue to perform at their best.Through our LEP Review we will continue to strengthen LEPs, so that they continue to drive sustainable private sector-led growth and job creation.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Written Questions

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to provide a full answer to Question 128576, tabled on 20 February 2018.

Dominic Raab: I refer the Hon Member to my answer to Question UIN 128576 on 8 March 2018.

Right to Buy Scheme: Stafford

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the housing associations in Stafford constituency that are eligible for the regional pilot of the Right to Buy for housing association tenants.

Dominic Raab: The Voluntary Right to Buy Midlands pilot will give thousands more housing association tenants the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of home ownership. The Government is currently engaging with the National Housing Federation and housing associations in the Midlands, and more details on the pilot will be announced in due course.

Alcoholic Drinks: Prices

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of what effect the rise in affordability of alcohol in supermarkets compared with on-trade has had on pub closure rates in the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Jake Berry: My Department has not made such an assessment. The Government has taken measures to tackle alcohol consumption through pricing interventions including banning the sale of alcohol below the level of duty plus VAT, while minimum unit pricing in England remains under review.

Homelessness

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on tackling homelessness.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: This Government remains clear that one person without a home is one too many and we are committed to preventing and reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. To achieve this we have taken a number of important actions such as implementing the most ambitious legislative reform in decades, the Homelessness Reduction Act which commences in April 2018.We have established the Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce that will design and drive forward the implementation of a cross Government strategy to achieve our commitment of halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminating it altogether by 2027. Supporting the Taskforce is the expert Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel.The Department has allocated over £1 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping through to 2020.

Sleeping Rough

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to reduce rough sleeping.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why this Government has committed to halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminating it altogether by 2027. A new Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce is bringing together relevant ministers from across Government, and will drive forward the implementation of a cross-Government strategy to tackle this issue. They are being supported by an Advisory Panel made up of experts from local government and the homelessness sector.We have allocated over £1 billion through to 2020 to prevent and reduce all forms of homelessness including piloting a Housing First approach for some of the most entrenched rough sleepers.

Affordable Housing

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that public sector workers are prioritised in the purchase of affordable housing that has been developed through the sale of public sector land.

Dominic Raab: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Council Tax: Empty Property

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the timetable is for measures to allow councils to charge a 100 per cent council tax premium on empty homes will come into force.

Rishi Sunak: The Government has confirmed that it will bring forward measures to double the 50 per cent cap on the council tax empty homes premium to allow local authorities to strengthen the incentive for owners of long-term empty properties to bring them back into use. This will require amendments to primary legislation. We will introduce the necessary legislation as soon as possible.

Housing

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to reduce levels of insecure housing; and what assessment the Government has made of the relationship between levels of (a) insecure housing and (b) homelessness.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The Government is committed to protecting the rights of tenants and giving them more security. Our Housing White Paper, published on 7 February 2018, sets out what we have done to encourage longer term tenancies in private rental homes delivered by housing associations and institutional investors. Both the British Property Federation and the National Housing Federation have committed to offer family friendly tenancies of three years or more in purpose built homes for rent.For those already living in the private rented sector who want a longer tenancy, we have published a model tenancy agreement which landlords and tenants can use as the basis for longer tenancies. This can be found online at www.gov.uk/government/publications/model-agreement-for-a-shorthold-assured-tenancyThe end of an assured shorthold tenancy in the private rented sector is now the leading cause of homelessness in England. The Government is committed to making sure everyone has a roof over their head and the security they need in their homes. We will shortly be launching a consultation on the barriers to landlords offering longer, more secure tenancies in the private rented sector and how we can overcome them. We also announced at Budget £20 million to support those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to access and sustain tenancies in the private rented sector.

Housing: Construction

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the implications are for his policies on housebuilding of the recommendations of the Redfern Review, published in November 2016; and if he will make a statement.

Dominic Raab: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Sleeping Rough: Death

Melanie Onn: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many rough sleepers have died as a result of their homeless status between November 2017 and March 2018.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Sleeping Rough: Weather

Melanie Onn: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department took to ensure local authorities had adequate resources to meet their Severe Weather Emergency Protocol duties between November 2017 and March 2018.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: Homeless Link publishes annual guidance on the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) and it is our expectation that local authorities work together with partners to provide basic emergency accommodation to minimise the risk of harm to individuals when the temperature drops. I recently wrote to local authorities about the guidance on SWEP which can help them protect rough sleepers in their areas at this time.No one should ever have to sleep rough and that is why the Government has committed to halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminating it altogether by 2027. The Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce will drive forward the implementation of a cross-Government strategy to achieve this. The Taskforce met for the first time on 7 March 2018 and have committed to publishing the strategy by July this year. We have allocated over £1 billion through to 2020, following the 2015 Spending Review, to prevent and reduce all forms of homelessness, including rough sleeping.

Opportunity and Integration Review

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he expects to publish the implementation plan for the Casey Report.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The manifesto committed the Government to bring forward a new integration strategy to help people in isolated communities engage with the wider world, help women into the workplace, and improve the spread of spoken English skills.We will publish an integration strategy for consultation shortly.

Housing: Dorset

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March to Question 130546, if he will place in the Library a copy of the evidence to which he has had regard of the extent to which the area as a whole is currently meeting its housing needs.

Rishi Sunak: I will place in the Library of the House a copy of the evidence to which the Secretary of State had regard, which is drawn from published data on net additional dwelling statistics available at www.gov.uk/government/collections/net-supply-of-housing and on the levels of housing need in area, available at www.gov.uk/government/consultations/planning-for-the-right-homes-in-the-right-places-consultation-proposals.

Local Government: Dorset

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March to Question 130545 on Local Government: Dorset, whether the financial estimates to which he referred in his Answer have been adjusted since their production to take account of (a) changes in Government policy and (b) savings made between August 2016 and 8 January 2018.

Rishi Sunak: Whilst the financial estimates in the Dorset councils’ proposal have not been adjusted since their production, the representations received from councils, and which I have placed in the Library of the House, set out the councils’ views of the impact of changes in circumstances on the case for the unitary proposal.

Local Government: Dorset

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March to Question 130265 on Local Government: Dorset, to what extent local consent changed among the (a) citizens of Christchurch and (b) their elected councillors between 7 November 2017 and 8 January 2018.

Rishi Sunak: The issue of consent is a matter for each council, and as I set out in my answer to Question UIN 130265, since 7 November two councils have withdrawn their opposition to the proposal. This means that across the whole of Dorset nearly 80 per cent of councillors are now in favour of the proposal.As to the level of support for the Dorset unitary proposal from the citizens and elected councillors of Christchurch, this has shown no evidence of significant change.The representative household survey which formed part of the public consultation undertaken by all nine Dorset councils in 2016 showed that across the whole area 65 per cent of the public support the proposal and there was an absolute majority of respondents to the open consultation questionnaire in support of the proposal. The same open questionnaire also showed that 57 per cent of respondents in Christchurch opposed the proposal. In the local advisory poll that Christchurch undertook in November and December 2017, 84 per cent of a 54 per cent turnout opposed the proposal – equivalent to 45 per cent of the electorate.In Christchurch, in January 2017 eight councillors supported the proposal, and in January 2018 eight councillors made representations in support of the proposal.

Council Tax: Dorset

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2018 to Question 130267 on Council Tax: Dorset, when he plans to publish his decision on the latest date by which new unitary authorities in Dorset must equalise council tax over the whole of that unitary authority area; and if he will make his decision provisional and subject to consultation against criteria set out in his answer.

Rishi Sunak: All Dorset councils are currently working together to develop council tax harmonisation proposals through their Joint Committees and may make representations to the Secretary of State as to any approach they might wish him to take.Thereafter the Secretary of State intends to bring forward before the Summer Recess secondary legislation on council tax harmonisation, having regard to local preference, and to the other matters indicated in my answer to Question UIN 130267 on 5 March 2017.

Local Government: Disclosure of Information

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2018 to Question 129890, and the Answers of 5 March 2018 to Questions 130263, 130547 and 130266, for what reason none of that material had been placed in the House of Commons Library as of 4pm on 7 March 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Rishi Sunak: The responses from Dorset councils referred to in Question UIN 129890 and Question UIN 130547 have been placed in the Library of the House. With regard to the material referred to in Question UIN 130263 and Question UIN 130266 my officials are checking the responses to ensure we do not disclose sensitive personal information and once that has been done, copies will be placed in the Library of the House.

Social Services: Children

Preet Kaur Gill: What recent assessment he has made of trends in local authority funding for children's services.

Sajid Javid: Funding for children’s services is made available through the local government finance settlement. Over the Spending Review period, councils will receive more than £200 billion for local services.In February, I announced that annual local government funding will rise in real terms to £45.6 billion by 2019-20.

Ministry of Defence

Astute Class Submarines

Dr Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans for seven Astute class submarines to be constructed; and what name is planned for the seventh boat.

Guto Bebb: Our plans for the Astute Class submarine programme have not changed. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Defence will announce the name approved by Her Majesty The Queen for the seventh boat in due course.

HMS Ambush

Dr Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for how long HMS Ambush remained out of service as a result of her collision with a surface vessel in July 2016.

Guto Bebb: It is UK policy that we do not comment on matters relating to submarine activity or operations as to do so would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Firing Ranges: Dundrennan

Mr Alister Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has for the Dundrennan range in Dumfries and Galloway.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence does plan to develop and enhance the training facilities at Dundrennan Range, but these plans are in the very early stages of development.

Boeing

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many contracts his Department has awarded to Boeing since 27 September 2017.

Guto Bebb: Current records indicate that the Ministry of Defence has awarded one contract to Boeing since 27 September 2017.

Ministry of Defence: Internet

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the volume of UK citizens’ data held by companies (a) supplying cloud services to his Department and (b) contracted to deliver cloud services on behalf of his Department that is subject to information requests from US Government bodies.

Guto Bebb: It will take some time to gather the information required to answer the hon. Member's question. I will write to the hon. Member shortly.

Defence: Procurement

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Written Statement of 14 December 2017 HCWS351 on Single Source Procurement Legislation: Review, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on single source procurement.

Guto Bebb: In his Written Statement of 14 December 2017, the Secretary of State called for further work on the detail of how the proposed changes could be implemented. This further work is nearing completion and a statement setting out the Government's position on the review is expected shortly.

Ministry of Defence: LIBOR

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence of 5 March 2018, Official Report, column 12, when it became his policy to pay for additional facilities out of the LIBOR funds.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Defence: LIBOR

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will list every use of LIBOR funds by his Department.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Defence: Iron and Steel

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with his US counterpart on US government proposals for steel tariffs.

Guto Bebb: We are deeply disappointed by the announcement of US measures against steel and aluminium exports. Ministers have raised their concerns with the US bilaterally and through the EU.The Department maintains close and regular dialogue with the US Department of Defense on a wide range of defence and security matters. Including the potential impact of steel tariffs on our co-operation, from which the US and UK gain mutual security and economic benefit.

Defence Equipment: Exports

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which defence equipment exported from the UK to the US in the last 12 months included UK steel; and what was the total value of that equipment.

Guto Bebb: We do not collect or hold information centrally on the value of UK steel in defence exports.

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the sterling-dollar exchange rate was at the time of each main-gate decision for the F-35 programme.

Guto Bebb: To date there have been four Main Gates for the UK F-35 programme. The exchange rates used were as follows:Main Gate 1 (2001) £1=$1.435Main Gate 2 (2006) £1=$1.85Main Gate 3 (2009) £1=$1.65Main Gate 4 (2013) £1=$1.55

Armed Forces: Mental Health Services

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how may calls to the 24/7 Military Mental Health Helpline have been received since that helpline's inception.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The new 24/7 Military Mental Health Helpline was launched on Sunday 25 February. We received over 70 calls that day and by 5 March the number of calls received had risen to over 200.

Armed Forces: Mental Health Services

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the press release entitled Defence Secretary shows commitment to Armed Forces mental health with over £220-million funding and new helpline, published by his Department on 25 February 2018, what his Department plans to spend the £220-million funding for Armed Forces mental health services on.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The £220 million expenditure over the next decade, which includes the £2 million per annum of additional funding announced on 25 February 2018, will be spent on a comprehensive range of psychiatric and psychological treatments. Services are delivered primarily from a network of 20 permanent locations, comprising 11 Departments of Community Mental Health, six Mental Health Teams and three locations with a permanent Community Mental Health Nurse.The additional £2 million will be put towards an increase in mental health specialists, bolstering existing mental healthcare support and funding the new 24/7 Military Mental Health Helpline.

Armed Forces: Discharges

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) officers and (b) other ranks were discharged on medical grounds from the (i) Royal Navy, (ii) Army and (iii) RAF in each of the last five years.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The following numbers of UK Armed Forces personnel were medically discharged in each of the last five Financial Years, broken down by Service, Officer and Other Rank are shown in the attached table.



Numbers of AF Personnel Discharged on Medical Grou
(Word Document, 25.28 KB)

Armed Forces: Pay

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence of 5 March 2018, Official Report, column 15, whether he plans to set out parameters for revised armed forces pay in his letter to the Armed Forces Pay Review Body to commence the annual pay round; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Secretary of State for Defence wrote to the Chair of the Armed Forces' Pay Review Body (AFPRB) on 7 December 2017 setting out parameters for the 2018/19 pay round. A copy of this letter can be found on the gov.uk website at the following address:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defence-secretary-gavin-williamson-letter-to-chair-of-afprb.We look forward to receiving the AFPRB's 2018 report in due course.

Members: Correspondence

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to answer the letter of 12 February 2018, on military exercises and the MOD's duty of care, from the hon. Member for Bridgend.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Defence: Procurement

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the proportion of defence contracts that procured through single source contracts in each year since 2013.

Guto Bebb: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Armed Forces: Surveys

Gerald Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the participation rates in the Continuous Attitude Surveys were for (a) the armed forces, (b) families and (c) the reserves in each of the last five years.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Armed Forces constantly strive to sustain and improve the response rates for the three Continuous Attitude Surveys (CAS). We do this in various ways, including by reducing the burden on respondents by ensuring that the number of questions is minimised and that they are written in a straightforward way. We also ensure that the surveys reach their intended audience by tracking their distribution and using nominated points of contact at unit level to assist with the distribution of surveys and with communications. Units are given their individual response rates so they can gauge where they rank against other units and the chain of command is held responsible for maximising response rates. Response rates compare favourably with other large public sector organisations. The requested information is provided below:  Response Rates for the Continuous Attitude Surveys since 2013 20132014201520162017Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey (AFCAS)48%48%44%45%45%Tri-Service Families Continuous Attitude Survey (FamCAS)17%25%25%28%25%Tri-Service Reserves Continuous Attitude Survey (ResCAS)*13%131%34%33%Source: Defence Statistics (Surveys) Notes:Prior to ResCAS 2014 the Navy, Army and RAF ran separate, independent surveys among their Reservists. In 2014 the individual Reserve surveys included a set of harmonised Tri-Service questions and by ResCAS 2015 the individual Reserve surveys also included a harmonised methodology and target population. Due to the changes in the survey methodology and target population in 2015, the results and response rates between ResCAS 2014 and later ResCAS surveys are not comparable.

Ministry of Defence: Scotland

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) military personnel and (b) civilian support staff based in Scotland have an annual salary of £33,000 or less.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Veterans: Scotland

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many military pensions were paid to ex-service personnel whose main residence is in Scotland, in each of the last five years.

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many military pensions were paid to ex-service personnel whose main residence is located in Scotland and whose annual pension was less than £33,000, in each of the last five years.

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many military pensions are paid to ex-service personnel whose main residence is in Scotland and how many of those personnel receive an annual pension of £33,000 or less.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The information required to answer the hon. Members questions will take time to collate and I will write to him shortly.

Armed Forces: Dogs

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence,  how many military working dogs that were re-homed at the end of their service lives were subsequently reported as destroyed in each of the last two years.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: This information is not held by the Ministry of Defence.

Armed Forces: Dogs

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether each of the military working dogs he instructed his Department in December 2017 to save has now been re-homed.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Armed Forces: Dogs

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the locations were for the re-homing of retired military working dogs in each of the last two years.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Military Working Dogs (MWDs) provide an invaluable service to our troops and every effort is made to rehome them at the end of their service life. Decisions are taken following an extensive assessment of the dogs and any potential new home.Information on the location of rehomed MWDs contains personal data which cannot be released.

Army

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the Order of Battle is by (a) manpower and (b) basing locations for the (i) Infantry, (ii) Royal Artillery, (iii) Royal Corps of Signals, (iv) Army Medical Services, (v) Adjutant General's Corps, (vi) Royal Armoured Corps, (vii) Army Air Corps, (viii) Royal Engineers, (ix) Royal Logistics Corps, (x) Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and (xi) Intelligence Corps.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Scotland Office

Scotland Office: Internet

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many and what proportion of his Department’s cloud hosting contracts have been awarded to (a) hyperscale cloud providers and (b) UK SMEs in each of the last three years; and what the value was of those contracts.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office is a small Ministerial Department and does not run its own IT system and therefore does not centrally collect the specific data requested.Information regarding contracts above the value of £10,000 is published on Contracts Finder on GOV.UK, available at https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.The Interception of Communications Commissioner and the Information Commissioner’s Office also have responsibilities in this area.

Department for International Trade

Trade Promotion

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, for each trade envoy (a) what contracts they have helped deliver, (b) how many visits they have each made to their respective countries and (c) the number of times they have had meetings in the Department during the period they have been appointed to that role.

Graham Stuart: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 01 March 2018.The correct answer should have been:

The Trade Envoy Programme primarily focuses on helping to facilitate bilateral trade and investment through soft power and fostering relationships in markets to which Trade Envoys are assigned.. In 16/17 Trade Envoys contributed towards £15.5bn in export wins.Annex A provides a breakdown of the number of visits each current Trade Envoy has undertaken since the programme began in 2012.DIT arranges a number of briefing roundtables throughout the year, to update Trade Envoys on departmental priorities. Trade Envoys are also able to use DIT's meeting rooms when receiving official visitors where appropriate. However DIT does not centrally hold information on the number of times they have had internal meetings and it could only be provided at disproportionate cost. 


Annex A - List of visits
(Word Document, 13.66 KB)




List of Visits 
(Word Document, 15.84 KB)

Graham Stuart: The Trade Envoy Programme primarily focuses on helping to facilitate bilateral trade and investment through soft power and fostering relationships in markets to which Trade Envoys are assigned.. In 16/17 Trade Envoys contributed towards £15.5bn in export wins.Annex A provides a breakdown of the number of visits each current Trade Envoy has undertaken since the programme began in 2012.DIT arranges a number of briefing roundtables throughout the year, to update Trade Envoys on departmental priorities. Trade Envoys are also able to use DIT's meeting rooms when receiving official visitors where appropriate. However DIT does not centrally hold information on the number of times they have had internal meetings and it could only be provided at disproportionate cost. 


Annex A - List of visits
(Word Document, 13.66 KB)




List of Visits 
(Word Document, 15.84 KB)

Small Businesses: Overseas Trade

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps his Department is taking to support small and medium-sized businesses identify new trading markets after the UK leaves the EU.

Greg Hands: The Department for International Trade (DIT) supports small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through our overseas network, international events programme, and online services. Our great.gov.uk website, offers digital tools to help businesses export. In its first year, the site had over 2.7 million visitors. UK Export Finance provides support which helps UK companies sell around the world. In 2016/17, 79% of those supported were SMEs. We are working with a number of countries to explore the best ways to develop our trade and investment relationships. We will aim through these discussions, to put in place various mechanisms to improve trading relations and remove barriers affecting UK businesses, before and after we leave the EU. My noble Friend, the Minister of State for Trade and Export Promotion, is leading the Export Strategy review, which aims to ensure that government has the right financial, practical and promotional support in place, to allow businesses to benefit from growth opportunities. DIT have engaged closely with businesses of all sizes as part of this strategy, including through the Federation of Small Businesses and the British Chambers of Commerce.

Women and Equalities

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what formal powers the Equality and Human Rights Commission has to investigate breaches of equality legislation.

Victoria Atkins: The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)’s powers to investigate breaches of equality legislation are set out in Section 20 of the Equality Act 2006. The Commission may investigate whether or not a person has committed an unlawful act; has complied with a requirement imposed by an unlawful act notice under section 21 of the act; or has complied with an undertaking given under section 23 of the Act.More generally, EHRC’s enforcement powers, which include these investigatory powers, are set out in sections 20 – 32 of the Act as amended by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013.

Department for Transport

Luton Airport: Railways

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential economic benefits for Luton Airport of including increased trains services to Luton Airport Parkway in the East Midlands rail franchise, and if he will make a statement.

Joseph Johnson: The Government and rail industry are investing in the biggest improvement in rail travel since the Victorian era, including through the upgrade of the Midland Main Line. This programme will improve rail journeys for passengers using the Midland Main Line to travel into London St Pancras. Once electrification of the Midland Main Line to Corby is complete in 2020, passengers at Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford, Luton and Luton Airport Parkway will benefit from a new, dedicated, fast commuter service into London St Pancras. The electric trains will be longer, with more seats. We are also considering the case for additional services to Luton Airport Parkway and have been working collaboratively with Luton Airport to understand their proposals. Any outcome will seek to secure the best value for money for the taxpayer, and be in the best interests of rail passengers. All options for rail services in the next East Midlands rail franchise are subject to analysis of the potential benefits and our consultation with stakeholders, which closed on 11 October 2017. Thus, no decisions have been made on rail services that will be specified for the next franchise. The next franchise is planned to start in August 2019. Invitations to Tender are due to be issued to potential bidders later this year. The ITT will set out the minimum requirements and provide the baseline that we expect the next franchise to build on.

South Western Railway: Season Tickets

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the date by which South Western Railway will introduce flexible season tickets as set out in the franchise agreement.

Joseph Johnson: As stated in the Franchise Agreement under Schedule 6.2 (published at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/south-western-railways-2017-rail-franchise-agreement) South Western Railway are to offer carnet fares for the flows for which they are the lead operator (where they set the fares) by 31st August 2018. Carnet fares allow passengers to buy discounted tickets for journeys that they do not make regularly enough to warrant them purchasing a season ticket.

Aviation

Mr Bob Seely: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that general aviation is a catalyst for future growth and high-tech jobs; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: The new Aviation Strategy will address the potential, the needs and the concerns of all types of aviation. This includes including General Aviation, and its potential to be a catalyst for future growth and high-tech jobs. The Government recognises the importance of the UK’s General Aviation sector and has appointed Byron Davies to be the General Aviation Champion. This Champion will be tasked with engaging with the sector, developing a thorough understanding of the relevant issues, and championing the role that it plays in the economy and society. At the end of 2018 he will deliver a report on the value of general aviation to the economy. He will have the help of York Aviation, which we have commissioned to carry out research on airfields of strategic significance.

Helicopters: Offshore Industry

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the Civil Aviation Authority’s annual income was derived from discharging its regulatory responsibilities for the offshore helicopter industry in each year since 2010-11.

Jesse Norman: The regulatory income of the Civil Aviation Authority is derived from a series of statutory charging schemes. These do not map exactly onto regulatory functions for specific sectors. The table shows the Civil Aviation Authority’s income that directly relates to the offshore helicopter industry arising from the Air Operator Certificate annual charges.  Financial Year ended 31 MarchCharge to UK offshore helicopter operatorsTotal CAA income (in Annual Report & Accounts)Proportion of reported income from charge to UK offshore helicopter operators (£000)(£000)%2016/17851135,8180.62015/16791132,6190.62014/15669134,0570.52013/14725133,0740.52012/13730125,8420.62011/12709115,2700.62010/11681109,4290.6 The accounts of the Civil Aviation Authority are published annually and laid before Parliament by the Secretary of State.

Helicopters: Offshore Industry

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of trends in commercial pressures on helicopter companies which are privately contracted to transport offshore oil and gas workers in the North Sea; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: Offshore helicopter services provide a vital link to ensure the viability of the UK’s oil and gas industry. High standards of air safety are a fundamental concern in ensuring these services are commercially viable. Through the Aviation Strategy, the Government will look at its role in supporting the commercial success of operators whilst balancing this against environmental and safety concerns. As the UK’s aviation safety regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) concern is whether the commercial environment has any impact on safety. The CAA monitors all aspects of the operations of offshore helicopter companies and any risks to safe operation through its safety oversight programme. The CAA has announced a series of measures to increase the safety of offshore helicopter flights and continues to work with the helicopter operators, the offshore industries, international regulators, unions and pilot representatives to enhance offshore safety standards still further.

Severn River Crossing: Tolls

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential change to traffic volumes in Bristol after the removal of tolls on the Severn Bridge.

Jesse Norman: Prior to the Severn Crossings consultation in 2017 the Government undertook modelling to assess the effect of the policy to continue tolling at a reduced rate and on the possible option of free-flow tolling. The modelling used a version of the M4-CAN traffic model extended to take account of the effect of changes in tolls on both the South West of England and Wales, which included estimates of wider economic effects consistent with DfT Transport Appraisal Guidance. Removal of the tolls will mean more people will be able to afford to cross the border in both directions to seek job and trade opportunities. This will support motorists, residents and businesses across Wales and the south-west, helping rebalance the economy as part of the Industrial Strategy. These benefits are expected to be associated with an increase in traffic around the Severn and Bristol area.The Government announced on 21 July 2017 that it was removing tolls by the end of 2018. No further modelling was undertaken by the Department for Transport on this specific option.

Southeastern: Compensation

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much Southeastern has (a) paid to passengers in compensation and (b) received in compensation from Network Rail in each of the last five years.

Joseph Johnson: The Department publishes how much passenger compensation is paid to passengers athttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/train-operating-companies-passengers-charter-compensation/train-operating-companies-passengers-charter-compensation Compensation is paid by Network Rail to Train Operating Companies for planned disruption on the network (Schedule 4 Payments) and, depending on the actual performance of both Network Rail and the train operator, Network Rail may pay compensation for unplanned disruption (Schedule 8 payments). Under their track access agreement, compensation for unplanned disruption passes between Govia Thameslink Railway and Network Rail based upon which party is responsible for each disruptive incident. The Department does not see the breakdown of the compensation paid by each party. In a recent answer to Parliament [UIN 130589] I provided this information for all Train Operating Companies. NR publish this information athttps://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/transparency-and-ethics/transparency/datasets/ Please note that these values in these tables are based on the invoices Network Rail have received up until November 2017 and are therefore subject to change, as and when historic disputes are settled.

Southeastern: Standards

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of trains on the Bexleyheath line were delayed in each of the past five years; and what proportion of those delayed trains on the Bexleyheath line were the fault of (a) Southeastern and (b) Network Rail.

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of trains on the Sidcup line have been delayed in each of the past five years; and what proportion of those delayed trains were the fault of (a) Southeastern and (b) Network Rail.

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of trains on the Woolwich Arsenal line have been delayed in each of the past five years; and what proportion of those delayed trains were the fault of (a) Southeastern and (b) Network Rail.

Joseph Johnson: We do not hold information regarding train delays to this level of disaggregation.

Southeastern: Standards

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion  of trains on the Southeastern rail network have been delayed in each of the past five years; and what proportion of those delayed trains were the fault of (a) Southeastern and (b) Network Rail.

Joseph Johnson: The proportion of trains which did not meet their Public Performance Measure (PPM) on the South-eastern network for the last five years, is as follows: 6 Jan 2013 - 4 Jan 2014 10.3%5 Jan 2014 - 3 Jan 2015 11.9%4 Jan 2015 - 9 Jan 2016 11.7%10 Jan 2016 - 7 Jan 2017 14.1%8 Jan 2017 - 6 Jan 2018 11.3% The responsibility for these was apportioned as follows:  Network RailSoutheasternOther Operators6 Jan 2013 - 4 Jan 201461%33%6%5 Jan 2014 - 3 Jan 201562%32%6%4 Jan 2015 - 9 Jan 201657%38%5%10 Jan 2016 - 7 Jan 201767%29%4%8 Jan 2017 - 6 Jan 201864%31%5% (PPM – defined as services 5 or more minutes late at destination; were cancelled; did not complete their full journey; or failed to stop at a station)

Bus Services: Pollution Control

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has received from the coach industry on the Government’s Air Quality Action Plan.

Jesse Norman: The coach industry responded to the government’s consultation on the draft UK Plan for Tackling Roadside Nitrogen Concentrations in 2017, and officials regularly meet with the Confederation of Passenger Transport to discuss air quality and connected issues.

Railway Stations: Wellingborough

Mr Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure that Wellingborough Station becomes the interchange hub for intercity trains traveling north.

Joseph Johnson: The Government and rail industry are investing in the biggest improvement in rail travel since the Victorian era, including through the upgrade of the Midland Main Line. This programme will improve rail journeys for passengers using the Midland Main Line to travel to and from London St Pancras. Once electrification of the Midland Main Line to Corby is complete in 2020, passengers at Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford, Luton and Luton Airport Parkway will benefit from a new, dedicated, fast commuter service into London St Pancras. The electric trains will be longer, with more seats. All options for rail services in the next East Midlands rail franchise are subject to analysis of the potential benefits and our consultation with stakeholders, which closed on 11 October 2017. Northbound connectivity on Midland Main Line intercity services was raised as a particular concern in the public consultation. On the basis of that feedback we are reviewing the proposed stopping patterns to attempt to maintain as many of those journey opportunities as possible. No decisions have yet been made on rail services that will be specified for the next franchise. The next franchise is planned to start in August 2019. Invitations to Tender are due to be issued to potential bidders later this year. The ITT will set out the minimum requirements and provide the baseline that we expect the next franchise to build on.

Railway Stations: Wellingborough

Mr Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people expected to travel by train from Wellingborough to St Pancras each day in (a) peak and (b) off-peak time in (i) March 2018, (ii) June 2018 and (iii) December 2019.

Mr Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people expected to travel by train north from Wellingborough each day (a) in peak and (b) off-peak time in (i) March 2018, (ii) June 2018 and (iii) December 2019.

Joseph Johnson: The Department does not hold figures to this level of detail. However our estimates based on ticket sales data is that on an average c.900 people travelled south from Wellingborough to St Pancras in 2015-16 (across the whole day), and c.300 people travelled north from Wellingborough to main stations on the Midland Mainline in 2015-16 (across the whole day). Of these passengers approximately 45% were travelling to Kettering or Corby, with the balance travelling to Market Harborough or beyond. Our growth forecast across the whole East Midlands franchise (not specifically from Wellingborough) from that date until 2019 is c 6%.

Southeastern: Standards

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Rail Accident Investigations Branch will be involved in the independent investigation into the response of Southeastern Trains and Network Rail to the self-evacuation of passengers on trains outside Lewisham Station on the evening of 2 March 2018.

Joseph Johnson: The Rail Accident Investigations Branch (RAIB) are aware of the incident at Lewisham and the understandable public concern related to it. This has led to them to start what they refer to as a “preliminary examination” into the event. They are currently gathering evidence that will enable them to decide what further action they will take, based around the decision criteria they use. They currently anticipate a decision within the next two weeks.

Department for Transport: Internet

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of his Department’s cloud hosting contracts have been awarded to (a) hyperscale cloud providers and (b) UK SMEs in each of the last three years; and what the value was of those contracts.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Department has a number of cloud hosting contracts, which are typically with large scale vendors via framework resellers. 7 contracts have been awarded to (a), comprising 50% of the total such contracts awarded, and with an overall value of £13,770,480.6 9 contracts have been awarded to (b), comprising 64% of the total such contracts awarded, and with an overall value of £7,575,356.06

Department for Transport: Internet

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the volume of UK citizens’ data held by companies (a) supplying cloud services to his Department and (b) contracted to deliver cloud services on behalf of his Department that is subject to information requests from US Government bodies.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: My department does not centrally collect the specific data requested. Information regarding contracts above the value of £10,000 is published on Contracts Finder on GOV.UK, available at https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder. The Interception of Communications Commissioner and the Information Commissioner’s Office also have responsibilities in this area.

Silvertown Tunnel

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the authority is for contractors working on behalf of Transport for London to conduct preparatory Silvertown Tunnel bore hole drilling works in Bugsbys Reach in advance of a decision on development consent for the proposed Silvertown Tunnel.

Joseph Johnson: Transport in London is a matter for Transport for London (TfL) and the Mayor. We understand from TfL that these works are being carried out under a statutory permit granted by the Environment Agency. It is standard procedure for investigative works such as these to be carried out in advance of major development proposals and the works are without prejudice to the Secretary of State’s determination of the application for development consent for the Silvertown Tunnel.

Parking: Pedestrian Areas

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to prevent unsafe pavement parking.

Jesse Norman: Local authorities in England outside London already have powers to restrict pavement parking using Traffic Regulation Orders. Furthermore, powers exist to take action against vehicles parked so as to cause an obstruction. The Government has no plans to bring in further legislation.

Department for Transport: Carillion

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer 6 March 2018 to Question 130560 on Department of Transport: Carillion, which of his Department's Arms Length Bodies' contracts with Carillion since January 2016 were done with Open Book Contract Management.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Since January 2016 Highways England has had no new contracts with Carillion. The Department has not awarded any High Speed Two contracts to Carillion. However, in July 2017 two Main Works Civils lots were let to a Joint Venture made up of Carillion, Eiffage and Kier (CEK JV). The Contract type entered into with the CEK JV was a NEC Option C with open book provisions.

Railways: Fares

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2018 to Question 130767 when the trial of the 26-30 railcard in the Greater Anglia area is due to be completed.

Joseph Johnson: The Greater Anglia trial of the 26-30 railcard is industry-led, consequently the industry will also lead the evaluation. The usage of these railcards throughout their validity will inform the evaluation of the trial.

East Coast Railway Line

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of  public ownership for East Coast Mainline in the event that the franchise ends early.

Joseph Johnson: Since 2015 the East Coast franchise has met all its financial commitments to the taxpayer, returning nearly £1 billion to the public purse. But this has come at a substantial cost of almost £200 million to Stagecoach. It is now clear that this franchise will in due course run out of funds and only be able to continue in its current form for a small number of months and no more. The Government is therefore currently reviewing two options for the continuation of services on the East Coast. One is to allow Stagecoach to continue operating the service under a very strictly designed short-term arrangement. The second is for the franchise to be directly operated by the Department for Transport, through an operator of last resort. The Department will choose the option that offers best value for money for taxpayers and protects the interests of passengers. This assessment is ongoing, and a conclusion of the best option has not yet been reached.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Football: Northern Ireland

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has had discussions with Northern Ireland authorities on safety advice being provided to fans travelling to the 2018 World Cup Finals; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Alan Duncan: I have had no discussion with the Northern Ireland authorities on this issue. The FCO is responsible for supporting all British nationals overseas. Our regularly updated travel advice and our "Be on the Ball" campaign contains advice for all fans travelling to Russia for the World Cup.

Yemen: Armed Conflict

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the situation in Yemen; and what plans the UK Government has to call for work towards an immediate ceasefire in that country.

Alistair Burt: We remain deeply concerned by the increasingly grave and distressing situation in Yemen. A political solution remains the only means for bringing long-term stability to Yemen – there is no military solution to the conflict. The UK continues to play a leading role in international efforts to achieve this goal. In June 2017 the UK sponsored and coordinated a UN Security Council Presidential Statement, agreed on 15 June, which called upon the parties to the conflict to agree the modalities for a ceasefire, take steps to address the humanitarian crisis, and restart political talks. We are now working urgently with our international and regional partners to ensure that the Security Council's words are converted into action.

Syria: Armed Conflict

Mrs Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking in Eastern Ghouta; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The UK supported UN Security Council resolution (UNSCR) 2401, unanimously adopted on 24 February, which demands a 30-day ceasefire in Syria to allow for delivery of humanitarian aid and medical evacuations which are urgently needed across Syria, particularly in eastern Ghouta. We have urged those with influence over the regime to ensure the ceasefire is implemented in full. On 27 February, Minister of State for Europe and the Americas The Rt Hon. Sir Alan Duncan MP met with the Russian Ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, stressing UK concern at the current situation in Syria, particularly the crisis in eastern Ghouta. The Foreign Secretary also wrote to the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on 27 February regarding the crisis in eastern Ghouta and urging Russia to uphold its commitments to ensure that UNSCR 2401 is implemented in full. Most recently, the UK raised its concerns with Russia on 7 March in the UN Security Council. We also called for an Urgent Debate in the UN Human Rights Council on 2 March and proposed a resolution which the UN Human Rights Council adopted on 5 March calling for the full and immediate implementation of UNSCR 2401.

South Sudan: Armed Conflict

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office, what steps his Department is taking to (a) tackle the root causes of conflict in South Sudan and (b) support peace building led by local actors in that country.

Harriett Baldwin: As a first step to tackle the root causes of the conflict, we have been clear that a wide range of voices, including from women, local actors and civil society groups, must be heard in the peace process. This will make it more likely that a sustainable settlement is found. These groups will also help hold the government and other parties to account. Our funding is enabling the South Sudan Council of Churches, through the National Action Plan for Peace, to lead mediation and reconciliation efforts between national level leaders who have the power to stop the conflict. At the local level we are supporting a range of peace building activities, including funding the Conflict Early Warning and Early Response System (CEWERS), which aims to reduce conflict by helping communities to identify small incidents and resolve issues peacefully before they escalate to violent conflict.

Sri Lanka: Violence

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Sri Lankan counterpart on the recent clashes between Sinhalese Buddhists and Muslims in that country.

Mark Field: I am deeply concerned by the current inter-communal violence in Sri Lanka, and wrote to Foreign Minister Marapana on 7 March setting out my views. We support the government's avowed determination to end it swiftly, using measures that are proportionate and respect human rights, and urge it to hold the perpetrators to account. It is vital that all leaders in Sri Lanka condemn violence and hate, and make every effort to promote harmony.

Sri Lanka: Community Relations

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Sri Lankan counterpart on (a) relations between majority and minority communities and (b) the safety of Muslims in that country.

Mark Field: ​During my visit to Sri Lanka in October I discussed inter-community relations with the Foreign Minister, Finance Minister, Speaker, and the Leader of the Tamil National Alliance. Our High Commission also regularly raise specific concerns, including a series of attacks against Muslim and other minority communities over the last year, with the government, civil society and religious leaders.From 10 November to 10 December the High Commission ran a social media campaign on Freedom of Religion and Belief. We are also supporting a multi-year Conflict Stability and Security Fund programme to promote inter-faith & inter-communal dialogue and dispute resolution at local level in eastern Sri Lanka, one of the most diverse regions.

Syria: Armed Conflict

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government provides any funding for (a) Syria Civil Defence’s early warning ‘Sentry’ system and (b) any other system to provide flight observation and early warning of air attacks targeting civilians in Syria; and if the Government will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing ongoing funding for that purpose.

Alistair Burt: The UK is committed to help protect civilians in Syria. As part of that effort, we have supported Syrian Civil Defence (SCD) since 2013, including having provided £650,000 to support SCD Sentry, an early warning system that aims to provide civilians with as much warning as possible prior to an airstrike - every time, day or night. Warnings are currently accessible through multiple online and over-the-air platforms. We will continue to assess ways that we can help protect civilians in Syria from the devastating impact of the Syrian regime and Russian airstrikes.

Syria: Military Intervention

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if the Government will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing tracking data on Russian violations of the Syrian ceasefire in a form that is compatible with security requirements.

Alistair Burt: The information available to the British Government on Syria originates from a variety of sources, some of which it would not be appropriate to publish. The UK will, however, continue to seek means of highlighting action by Russia, the Syrian regime and its other backers which is contrary to UN Security Council Resolution 2401 (which demanded a thirty-day ceasefire in Syria). The Foreign Secretary issued a statement on 5 March underlining his concerns about action by both the Syrian regime and Russia contrary to this Resolution. We are using regular meetings of the UN Security Council, some of which have been public, to highlight these violations further. We called an Urgent Debate at the UN Human Rights Council, which took place on 2 March, to highlight the situation in eastern Ghouta. Finally, we strongly support the work of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry which has published reports identifying parties responsible for atrocities in Syria. The most recent report by the Commission of Inquiry was published on 6 March. It identified attacks perpetrated by Russia, as well as other parties.

Syria: Military Intervention

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the  Government (a) holds (b) is aware of and (c) has sought to obtain information on Russian air force responsibility for hospital bombings in Syria.

Alistair Burt: We have obtained information about attacks against medical facilities in Syria from various sources, including non-government organistions, humanitarian organistions supporting hospitals on the ground in Syria,and the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry. A large number of attacks on hospitals have been documented in the Syrian conflict - the vast majority by the regine and its backers. In its reports of 6 March 2018, the UN Commission of Inquiry stated that pro-regime forces deliberately target medical infrastructure as part of their war strategy. Between March 2011 and December 2017, Physicians for Human Rights documented 16 attacks on medical facilties by Russian forces and a further 118 attacks committed by either Russian or Syrian government forces. These attacks on hospitals, as well as on the heroic White Helmets rescue workers, are utterly unacceptable. On 5 March the UN Human Rights Council, at the UK's initiative, adopted a resolution which included condemnation of attacks on medical facilites.

Hamed bin Haydara

Mrs Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made and to whom on the death sentence issued in Yemen for Mr Hamid bin Haydara; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: As the Minister for Europe and the Americas said in his response to the urgent question on this issue on 11 January, we strongly condemn Mr bin Haydara's death sentence, and the continued persecution of Baha'is in Yemen for their religious beliefs. We continue to work closely with our partners, including the European Union, to raise this issue directly with the de facto authorities in Sana'a, and have sought to raise the profile of Mr bin Haydara's situation through public diplomacy. We are in close contact with the Baha'i community in London regarding Mr bin Haydara's case and the wider situation of Baha'is in Yemen. I met with with representatives of the Baha'i community on 18 January to discuss this and other cases.

Yemen: Peace Negotiations

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs,what support his Department has provided to the international community to (a) secure a ceasefire in Yemen and (b) facilitate negotiations for a political settlement of the conflict.

Alistair Burt: A political settlement remains the only means for bringing long-term stability to Yemen – there is no military solution to the conflict. The Yemeni parties must engage constructively and in good faith to overcome obstacles and find a political solution to end the conflict. The UK continues to play a leading role in international efforts to achieve this goal. The Foreign Secretary discusses the military and political situation in Yemen with the Foreign Ministers of the United States of America, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia regularly, and most recently on 23 January at our Embassy in Paris. In June last year the UK sponsored and coordinated a UN Security Council Presidential Statement, agreed on 15 June, which called upon the parties to the conflict to agree the modalities for a ceasefire, take steps to address the humanitarian crisis and restart political talks. We are now working urgently with our international and regional partners to ensure that the Security Council's words are converted into action. We support the appointment of the new UN Special Envoy for Yemen, and will work urgently to assist his efforts.

Sri Lanka: Community Relations

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the declaration of a state of emergency on communal violence Sri Lanka.

Mark Field: I remain concerned by the current inter-communal violence in Sri Lanka, and have written to Foreign Minister Marapana setting out my views. We support the government's determination to end it swiftly, using measures that are proportionate and respect human rights, and urge it to hold the perpetrators to account. It is vital that all leaders in Sri Lanka condemn violence and hate, and make every effort to promote harmony.The UK is committed to supporting government and civil society efforts to improve human rights in Sri Lanka. We are currently funding a range of projects through a multi-year Conflict Stability and Security Fund programme to promote inter-faith and inter-communal dialogue and dispute resolution at local level in eastern Sri Lanka, one of the most diverse regions.

Saudi Arabia: Overseas Trade

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what place the rate of state executions in Saudi Arabia will have in determining the UK's future trading relationship with that country.

Alistair Burt: The Government does not prioritise trade over human rights, nor does it shy away from condemning the use of the death penalty in all circumstances and in all countries. The Saudis are well aware of our position. We raise our concerns with the Saudi authorities at all levels and at all appropriate opportunities, in line with the standards set out in the EU guidelines on the death penalty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Arab Charter on Human Rights.The relationships we build with countries, including Saudi Arabia, through trade and security links, and educational and research collaboration, allow us to make greater progress with those countries on human rights, including on the death penalty.The Government especially opposes the death penalty when applied to minor crimes and to juveniles. The Government supports the law proposed by the Shura Council to abolish the death sentence for those under the age of 18 in Saudi Arabia. We will continue to press for progress on the matter.

Department for International Development

Palestinians: Overseas Aid

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how her Department monitors the delivery and spending of UK aid in the Palestinian Territories.

Alistair Burt: As for all DFID programmes, officials regularly monitor and review our programmes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) to ensure they are delivering results and that UK aid reaches the intended beneficiaries and achieves the best development outcomes, with a strong focus on ensuring value for money for the UK taxpayer. This includes comprehensive annual reviews and project completion reports. These reviews are available on the DFID Development Tracker at https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/. DFID has due diligence assessment processes to provide assurance over the expenditure of our funds, and DFID’s OPTs spending is subject to regular auditing by DFID’s Internal Audit Department and the UK National Audit Office. We have strong controls in place to monitor spending, including mapping the flow of funds to beneficiaries, regular audits of programme spending and where required, tight earmarking of funds. DFID has a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and has robust controls against diversion of aid to terrorist groups.

Palestinians: Overseas Aid

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure that aid to the Palestinian Authority does not fund radicalisation.

Alistair Burt: Our partnership with the Palestinian Authority (PA) includes a commitment from the Palestinian leadership to adhere to the principle of non-violence and to tackle language and actions that could incite violence or hatred; I recently urged Palestinian Ministers to remain focused on this. UK financial aid to the PA is provided through the European Union (EU) Palestinian-European Socio-Economic Management Assistance Mechanism (PEGASE) mechanism, contributing to the salaries of vetted public servants in the health and education sectors. Only named public servants from a pre-approved EU list are eligible, and the vetting process includes screening against international and ad hoc sanctions lists designed to prevent terrorism financing.

Developing Countries: HIV Infection

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of her Department's bilateral aid spending on HIV and AIDS is specified for work with (a) women and girls, (b) the LGBT+ community, (c) men who have sex with men and (d) intravenous drug users.

Alistair Burt: The UK’s global HIV response prioritises those left behind by the huge progress made in recent years, including these four groups. For example, we are proud to be a founding supporter of the Robert Carr Civil Society Networks Fund, which supports the grassroots response led by those groups themselves. DFID reports bilateral aid expenditure annually against specific sector codes, including HIV and AIDS, to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. These are publically available on the Statistics for International Development website: GPEX tables. Granular data on proportion of spend targeting specific groups affected by HIV and AIDS are not compiled.

Developing Countries: Nurses

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the news story UK aid supports Nursing Now campaign to empower nurses in the world’s poorest countries, published by her Department on 27 February 2018, whether the £5 million to support the training of nurses and midwives in developing countries whether that money will come from additional funding.

Alistair Burt: To support the Nursing Now campaign, DFID will allocate £5 million of the Stronger Health Partnerships for Stronger Health Systems programme to deliver partnerships that will train nurses and midwives, including in leadership development. This new programme will start in 2019 and will support the priorities identified by countries to invest in their health workforces and strengthen their health systems.

Developing Countries: Sanitary Protection

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department has plans to fund the manufacture and provision of period pants in developing countries; and if she will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The UK is committed to enabling all girls and women to manage menstruation safely, hygienically and with dignity, allowing them to stay in school and participate in society during their period. Access to affordable sanitary products is central to this and the UK is supporting a number of innovative projects to enhance access and choice. This includes a technology transfer initiative with the Indian company Aakar (www.aakarinnovations.com) to enable them to take their women’s enterprise and simple technology model for the local production of quality, low-cost, environmentally-friendly sanitary pads to Kenya and Tanzania. In Zimbabwe, we are supporting women’s groups to make reusable sanitary pads as part of a wider programme to support 95,000 vulnerable girls to stay in school. In Uganda, we have supported the testing and development of sustainable market models for distributing menstrual hygiene cups at scale. We also support menstrual hygiene management more broadly through health, girls’ education and water, sanitation and hygiene programmes across sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

Department for Education

Universities Superannuation Scheme

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of potential merits of indemnifying the Universities Superannuation Scheme against university bankruptcy.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) is a private pension scheme, and government has no role in relation to the USS beyond regulation as applied to all work-based pension schemes by The Pensions Regulator. The government has no plans to underwrite the USS, which is one of the country’s largest pension schemes. It has nearly 400,000 members, along with sizable assets and liabilities. The cost to the taxpayer of underwriting such a scheme could be significant, and any further government involvement in supporting the scheme would need to be considered very carefully. The government remains concerned about the impact of industrial action called in response to proposed reforms to the USS. I have spoken with both Universities UK and the University and College Union to encourage them to continue to talk, as this is the most appropriate route towards resolving the dispute.

Students: Loans

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to his Department has been of the (a) sale of student loan book and (b) servicing of student loan debt.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The advisory and transaction costs were circa £16 million from 2013/14 to the closing of the first sale in December 2017. The costs of servicing the sold loans are being charged to investors on a cost recovery basis, uprated annually in line with the retail price index.

Apprentices: Average Earnings

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average hourly rate of pay is for (a) women and (b) men undertaking apprenticeships in each sector subject area.

Anne Milton: Data on apprenticeship pay is published in the Apprenticeship Pay Survey 2016 which provides an average (median) hourly rate of pay for women and men undertaking Level 2 and 3 apprenticeships in England. This information was provided in our previous written response of 27 February 2018: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-02-23/129432/. The Survey provides the average (median) basic hourly pay for Level 2 and Level 3 apprentices in England in 2014 and 2016 by type of apprenticeship undertaken by those surveyed. This information can be found on page 6, Table 1.2 of the Apprenticeship Pay Survey 2016 (England): https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/630082/apprenticeship-pay-survey-2016-report-england.pdf. The Survey does not provide a further breakdown by gender.

Apprentices: Wolverhampton

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeships have been funded by the apprenticeship levy in the Wolverhampton local authority area in the last three financial years; and how many apprenticeships in that area his Department estimates will be funded by the apprenticeship levy (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19.

Anne Milton: The apprenticeship levy did not come into effect until April 2017 and so there were no levy-supported apprenticeship starts before that date. The table attached sets out the overall number of apprenticeship starts where the learner’s home postcode is in the Wolverhampton local authority (LA) area, and provides the number of these that were levy-supported since April 2017. Please note that 2016/17 figures for all apprenticeship starts are full year figures and the 2016/17 levy-supported starts represent just 2016/17 quarter 4; this means that these are not comparable as they represent different timeframes.The apprenticeship levy is collected centrally by HM Treasury and future availability and location of apprenticeships is dependent on where employers choose to recruit or offer apprenticeship opportunities. We do not therefore hold data on future delivery in the Wolverhampton LA area.



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Academies

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have applied to convert to an academy in each month since January 2015.

Nadhim Zahawi: Between January 2015 and February 2018, 2,999 schools have applied to become an academy. This information is released monthly as part of the Open Academies and Academy Projects awaiting approval document available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development.Table 1 below provides the number of academy applications each month between January 2015 and February 2018. Academy Applications January 2015 to February 2018* 2015201620172018January476210263February931509988March79227164 April1011088 May219074 June2482100 July28103127 August21734 September247852 October5310080 November4710883 December81105104   *Data Source: Academies Management Information (DFE Internal Data) 5th March 2018

Digital Technology: Curriculum

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve digital skills in the national curriculum.

Nick Gibb: The new national curriculum for computing was first taught from September 2014. The new curriculum, which covers Key Stage 1-4, is compulsory in maintained schools and can be used as a benchmark by academies and free schools. It has been designed to ensure that pupils acquire the knowledge they need to become active creators of digital technology, not just passive consumers of it. It focuses on the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including computer programming, abstraction, logic, and algorithms. It also includes digital literacy, e-safety and the application of information technology. As announced in the 2017 Autumn Budget, the Government will be investing £84 million in a comprehensive programme to improve the teaching of the new computing curriculum in schools. This will include creating a new National Centre for Computing Education, training up to 8,000 existing computer science teachers to teach the GCSE, an A level support programme, and a pilot programme to explore approaches to improve the gender balance in computing. This is in addition to the £5.8 million we have already invested since 2012 in the Network of Teaching Excellence in Computer Science. The programme built a national network of over 350 ‘Master Teachers’ that schools could commission to provide bespoke training for their teachers.

Mature Students

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of mature students participating in higher education.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Studying later in life can bring enormous benefits for individuals, the economy and employers. Many mature students choose to study part-time. We are taking further steps to help hardworking people who want to gain new skills and advance their careers in this way: The government introduced up-front fee loans for eligible part-time students in 2012/13 to meet the full costs of their tuition.We are further enhancing the student finance package for part-time students by introducing maintenance loans equivalent to full-time in 2018/19.We intend to extend the part-time maintenance loan to eligible students studying distance-learning courses in 2019/20, subject to the development of a robust control regime to manage the particular risks and challenges associated with this mode of study. Evidence shows that accelerated courses appeal particularly to mature students who want to retrain and enter the workplace more quickly than a traditional course would permit. We recently completed a public consultation on accelerated degrees, and the government response to this consultation will be published later this year. In our first guidance to the Office for Students (OfS) (published 28 February 2018 ), which sets out our priorities for access and participation plans for 2019/20, we have asked the OfS to encourage higher education providers to consider the recruitment and support of mature learners. In addition, we asked the OfS to help strengthen the focus on part-time study, which should be of particular benefit to many prospective mature learners, where this supports the access and success of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Children: Day Care

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has issued to parents who are asked to pay a deposit to secure a place at a setting that provides 30 hours of funded childcare.

Nadhim Zahawi: The department’s statutory guidance requires local authorities (LAs) to work with providers to ensure that, if providers charge parents a deposit to secure their child’s free place, the deposit is refunded in full to parents within a reasonable time scale. Operational guidance for LAs and providers gives further details, stating that the purpose of the deposit is to give providers certainty that a parent will take up the place. LAs and providers should make it clear to parents that if they fail to take up their place, the provider is not obliged to refund the deposit.LAs are responsible for ensuring that all eligible children can take up their place free of charge and that providers’ charging policies, including charging deposits, enable this. LAs must enter into arrangements with childcare providers to ensure the providers comply with legislative requirements. The LA is not required to fund a provider that is unwilling to accept these requirements.The department’s statutory guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/682005/Early_education_and_childcare_Statutory_guidance_for-LAs.pdf.

Pre-school Education: Assessments

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 5 March 2018 to Question 130185, on Pre-school Education: Assessments, whether it will be his Department's policy to have early years baseline assessments and the early years foundation stage profile assessments being conducted on the same children in the same academic year.

Nadhim Zahawi: It is government policy that the reception baseline assessment (RBA) will be taken by all children within six weeks of entering reception. The same children will also be observed as part of the early years foundation stage profile assessment (EYFSP) during the reception year. As set out in the response to Question 130185, the two assessments have different purposes. The RBA is a brief teacher-mediated assessment that will take place at the beginning of the reception year to establish a baseline for a new school-level progress measure between reception and Year 6. This means there will no longer be a need to test children at Key Stage 1. The EYFSP is intended to provide parents, carers and Year 1 teachers with a rounded assessment of a child’s knowledge, abilities and development at the end of the reception year.

Children: Day Care

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of Early Years settings that have fallen into financial difficulties as a result of delayed payments for 30 hours of funded childcare from local authorities.

Nadhim Zahawi: The information requested is not held centrally.It is the responsibility of local authorities to enter into agreements with providers to deliver free early education entitlements and childcare. These agreements should be clear about how and when providers will be paid and the documentation required from providers in order to receive payment.The government’s expectations on what should be included in those agreements were set out in the department’s model agreement. The model agreement was developed in partnership with early years providers and local authorities. It is intended to bring greater consistency to provider agreements across all local authorities and all types of providers. Furthermore, it includes an expectation that from September 2018, all providers, especially childminders, should be paid monthly unless they request otherwise.The Model Agreement: Early years provision free of charge and free childcare can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ file/604417/Model_Agreement_FINAL_20170302.pdf.

Children: Day Care

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 1 March 2018 to Question 129559 on Children: Day Care, whether he has authorised any such disapplications.

Nadhim Zahawi: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has allowed a disapplication request from one local authority to change the funding rates allocated to their early years providers part way through the financial year.

Department for Education: Public Appointments

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the recommendations of the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ report on appointments to the board of the Office for Students, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure due diligence on public appointments.

Mr Sam Gyimah: We recognise that the Commissioner for Public Appointments has re-affirmed the importance of departments undertaking more due diligence, and the Government will be acting on the Commissioner's advice on this issue.

Department for Education: Staff

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people in his Department are employed to work on (a) higher education (b) further education and (c) apprenticeships.

Anne Milton: The department, as at the 1 January 2018, had 687 employees directly employed working on the areas of higher education, further education and apprenticeships. These employees are within the department’s Higher Education and Further Education (HEFE) and Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) directorates. The breakdown of these employees in the respective directorates is as follows;DirectorateBusiness AreaNumber of employeesHEFEHigher Education250HEFEFurther Education258*HEFEApprenticeship73EFSANational Apprenticeship Service106Total 687 *this includes the business areas of Professional and Technical Education (PTE) and Careers and Further Education (CFE).In addition, other departmental employees are working on apprenticeships outside the Directorates listed. This work, however, is integrated into other roles and they are, therefore, not directly employed to work on higher education, further education and apprenticeships.

Department for Education: Staff

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people employed in his Department have (a) worked and (b) studied at a further education college.

Anne Milton: The information requested is not held centrally.

Apprentices

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons non-levy apprenticeship funding is not allocated to education providers on a pro-rata basis.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria was used for the allocation of non-levy apprenticeship funding to the South East of England.

Anne Milton: Apprenticeship Training providers are economic operators providing services to the Education and Skills Funding Agency in a market. As such, the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 therefore apply and it was not possible to allocate non-levy apprenticeship funding to education providers on a pro-rata basis. The proportion of the non-levy apprenticeship budget allocated to each of the nine English regions was determined by the most recent historic delivery pattern available at the time of the procurement. This was designed to help to maintain provision stability during the 15 months of the contract and was set out clearly in the Invitation to Tender.

Child Minding: Registration

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many childminder agencies have registered with Ofsted since the Children and Families Act 2014 came into force.

Nadhim Zahawi: Ofsted publishes a regular series of statistics relating to early years providers, including childminder agencies, which can be viewed from this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/early-years-and-childcare-statistics. As at 31 August 2017, eleven childminder agencies were registered with Ofsted.

Apprentices

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average length of time was for an apprenticeship programme undertaken by (a) women and (b) men in each sector subject area in 2016-17.

Anne Milton: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Apprentices: Ethnic Groups

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to encourage apprenticeship uptake by people who are from a BAME background.

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to encourage apprenticeship uptake by people who are aged over 45.

Anne Milton: To drive up apprenticeships among underrepresented groups, including black, Asian and minority ethnic individuals, last month we launched a new partnership with five major cities in England, supported by city Mayors, to ensure apprenticeships are accessible to individuals from all backgrounds. Our Apprenticeship Diversity Champions Network, now comprised of over 40 employers, continues to influence the behaviour of other employers to support more people from underrepresented groups, including those with disabilities, women, and members of black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, to access apprenticeships. We celebrated National Apprenticeship in 5-9 March, celebrating the positive impact apprenticeships have on individuals, businesses and the wider economy.

Faith Schools: Equality

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether an equality impact assessment has been conducted on its policy of allowing greater freedom to faith schools to select on the basis of (a) religion (b) denomination.

Anne Milton: Such assessments are standard practice across the public sector in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

Universities: Freedom of Expression

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2018 to Question 121648, what discussions he has had with the National Union of Students on his Department’s support for the right of (a) the English Defence League, (b) Hizb-ut-Tahir iii) the Muslim Public Affairs Committee to speak on university campuses in opposition to the NUS' position of no-platforming.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Department’s support for freedom of speech within the law has been made clear publicly on a number of occasions. We will continue to relay that position in any discussions with NUS officers.

Students: Protection

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of consumer protections in place for higher education students.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Higher education providers have obligations under consumer law. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has produced advice on consumer protection law for UK higher education providers. This sets out that providers should give students the information they need to make informed decisions before applying; clear and transparent terms and conditions and information about complaints process, which must be fair and transparent. The regulatory framework for the Office for Students (OfS) includes as a registration condition that providers ‘must demonstrate that in developing and implementing its policies, procedures and terms and conditions it has given due regard to relevant guidance, such as the CMA’s, about how to comply with consumer protection law’. In its ministerial guidance to the OfS, government has asked the OfS to go further and take steps to assess the provision of information by providers to students; to assess the availability of impartial advice and support for students; and drive communications actively to raise awareness among students of their rights as consumers. The guidance can be found on the OfS website at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/1044/strategicguidancetotheofs.pdf.

Universities: Strikes

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure support is available for students affected by strike action to complete their degrees.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Universities are autonomous institutions and it is for them to ensure that they meet their obligations to their students. We remain concerned about any impact of strike action on students and expect universities to put in place measures to maintain the quality of education that students should receive. I have called on Universities UK and the University and College Union to continue to talk in order to find a solution that avoids further disruption to students.

Teachers: Training

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 17 Early Years Workforce Strategy, published by his Department in March 2017, whether the feasibility study into developing a programme that specifically seeks to grow the graduate workforce in disadvantaged areas has been completed; and if he will place a copy of that study in the Library.

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 17 Early Years Workforce Strategy, published by his Department in March 2017, whether his Department has completed reviewing the early years initial teacher training routes; and if he will place a copy of that review in the Library.

Nadhim Zahawi: The department is considering a range of approaches to supporting graduates in the early years workforce – including the training routes available. This work is still underway.

Office for Students

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of higher education providers which will be outside of the registration frameworks of the Office for Students.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Students: Protection

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what protections he plans to introduce for students studying at unregistered higher education providers.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Further Education: ICT

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with stakeholders in the further education sector on the implications of charges being levied for essential IT services as a result of changes to funding to Jisc.

Anne Milton: Officials have discussed the funding changes and the implications with both Jisc and the Association of Colleges.

Further Education: ICT

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of further education colleges that will be affected by the introduction of fees for Jisc's IT services as a result of changes to funding to that organisation.

Anne Milton: All further education colleges in England currently have access to Jisc services. From August 2019, any college wishing to continue to use these services will need to subscribe. The Department for Education will continue to fund the majority of the costs associated with these services.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Seasonal Agricultural Workers' Scheme

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers' Scheme in providing specialised labour for farmers; and if he will make a statement.

George Eustice: The Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme operated successfully from 1945 until 2013. It was closed following the accession to the EU of Romania and Bulgaria which meant there was a sufficient supply of labour from EU nationals. Following the decision to close the scheme in 2013, Defra established the SAWS Transition Working Group, now called the Seasonal Workforce Working Group. This group meets regularly and brings industry and government together to monitor the seasonal labour situation across the UK. The farming industry reported that in the third quarter of 2016, labour recruitment was more challenging than in previous years. The Secretary of State has made clear that the government is giving consideration to what replacement arrangements might be necessary after the UK leaves the European Union to ensure that the farming industry has access to the labour it requires.

Public Footpaths: South West

Peter Heaton-Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he has taken to ensure continued funding for the South West Coastal Path national trail.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Business planning and financial allocations have not yet been completed and Natural England is not yet in a position to announce the level of funding for the South West Coast Path national trail for 2018/19. Natural England wrote to each of the national trail partnerships last December making an interim offer of 50% of the funding made to each of the national trails in 2017/18. The offer was an advance contribution towards the costs the partnerships would incur in 2018/19 in the absence of Natural England being able to confirm its overall funding position for 2018/19.

Animals: Tagging

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people have been arrested, charged and convicted for non-compliance of not ensuring that their dog is microchipped.

George Eustice: There are no recorded prosecutions or convictions for such an offence up to and including 31 December 2016, the latest year for which statistics are available. However, at least two people were fined last year for failing to ensure that their dog was properly microchipped and their details kept up to date. The offence of failing to microchip a dog is a “non-notifiable” offence and so there is no centrally held data on arrests or charges. We would not expect many people to be arrested, charged or prosecuted for such an offence because offenders are given an opportunity to microchip their dogs before facing prosecution.

Public Footpaths

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will uphold Natural England's agreement to commit to a three-year funding cycle for the National Trails.

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will fund from the public purse the 13 National Trails for £1.6 million annually until 2021.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Business planning and financial allocations have not yet been completed and we are therefore not yet in a position to announce the future level of funding until 2021 for the 13 national trails. Natural England wrote to each of the national trail partnerships last December making an interim offer of 50% of the funding made to each of the national trails in 2017/18. The offer was an advance contribution towards the costs the partnerships would incur in 2018/19 in the absence of Natural England being able to confirm its overall funding position for 2018/19.

Packaging

Anna McMorrin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to incentivise the adoption by manufacturers of packaging of environmentally friendly designs.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: On 11 January 2018 we published our 25 Year Environment Plan that stated our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042 and, in particular, the waste from single use plastics. As part of delivering this work, we will be exploring how we can develop our producer responsibility schemes to give producers greater incentives to design more resource efficient products, including packaging.

Water Supply

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the amount of water lost through leakage as a proportion of total supply by water companies in 2017; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) number of recorded leaks and (b) amount of water lost as a result of leaks from water pipes in England in each year since 2010.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Environment Agency estimates that the following amount of water has been lost as a result of leakage since 2010 in England:   2009-102010-112011-122012-132013-142014-152015-162016-17Total leakage (millions)Mega litres per day308431552948.572963.322916.192941.892896.352910.00Leakage % (litres per day)%22%22%21%22%21%22%21%21% The total number of leaks is not recorded. Leakage figures for all the water companies in England and Wales are available at Discover Water at https://discoverwater.co.uk/leaking-pipes.

Agriculture: Apprentices

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Government is making on trebling the number of apprenticeships in the food, farming and agri-tech sectors; and if he will make a statement.

George Eustice: Data on apprenticeship starts is published on gov.uk and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/650226/201617_Oct_Apps_Level_SSA_And_Framework_Data_Tool_FINAL.xlsx. The 2017 apprenticeship reforms passed power from Government directly to employers to decide what types of apprenticeships they want and how many. We recognise however that businesses face a period of change and may take time to plan ahead and grow in a controlled way. High quality apprenticeships are crucial routes in helping learners reach their potential. Defra remains committed to working with the industry and the Department for Education to support employers in the sector to take on apprentices.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has funded the development of tests for finding TB infection in badger faeces since 2015.

George Eustice: Prior to 2015, Defra funded development of a DNA based test for finding TB infection in badger faeces and funded a trial to compare several tests that had potential to find TB infection in badger faeces. None of the tests met the specifications required to be a useful tool in delivery of the TB strategy. Since 2015, Defra has not directly supported development of any new tests, but is interested in any tests that are developed and have potential, and will work with industry and academia to enable validation of such tests.

Common Agricultural Policy: Wales

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the percentage of funding for the agricultural sector in Wales that was derived from the common agricultural policy in each of the last 10 years.

George Eustice: Information on farming statistics and CAP payments in Wales is a devolved issue and Defra does not hold this data. This information is held by the Welsh Government.

Beetles: Conservation

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to prevent the extinction of the (a) stictoleptura erythroptera and (b) iphthiminus italicus species of beetles; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: While we are concerned by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s recent publication of the European Red List of Saproxylic Beetles showing that 18 percent of these beetle species are at risk of extinction due to ongoing decline in large veteran trees across Europe, as neither of the two species of beetle in the question is native to the UK so we will not be taking species-specific action for them.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Fairtrade Initiative

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what Fairtrade products are available from (a) vending machines and (b) canteens in his Department.

George Eustice: Defra has no vending machines. The following Fairtrade products are available through Defra’s canteens:- BananasSugar Sachets – Brown and WhiteBulk Sugar – Brown and WhiteDrinking Chocolate“Oh so Scrummy” products including, Muffins, Cakes and Flapjacks“Be Fair “ Healthy Apple and Orange drinks“Eat Fair” Dark Coconut bar, Flapjack - Oat and Seed Bar, Rocky Road, Salted Caramel Bars“Nestle” Kit Kats 3 flavours The canteen also stocks Costa Coffee and Typhoo tea which are part of the rainforest alliance scheme.

Pollution Control: North West

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps are being taken under the North West river basin district river basin management plan to implement further action to work with farmers to develop inclusive catchment farm groups to work cooperatively to reduce pollution from agriculture through a number of schemes including countryside stewardship in the Ribble catchment.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) is a partnership initiative established in order to improve our water environment. The Catchment Partnerships work to agree and deliver the strategic priorities for the river catchment and to support the Environment Agency (EA) in developing an appropriate River Basin Management Plan. One key outcome for the Ribble catchment is establishing groups which provide training for farmers and help them to access support such as Countryside Stewardship funding for farm management improvements, aimed at reducing agricultural pollution.

Pollution Control: North West

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps are being taken to reduce pollution from sewage in the Ribble catchment as a result of the North West river basin district river basin management plan.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: River Basin Management Plans provide an overview of a River Basin District and give details of water bodies and their condition as well as proposed actions needed for water bodies to improve status and prevent deterioration. These include actions that water companies and other sectors need to complete to help achieve good status and prevent deterioration. United Utilities’ Asset Management Plan (AMP6) for the period 2015 to 2020 includes a number of schemes designed to improve water quality across the Ribble catchment. By improving the quality of waste water discharged to rivers and coastal waters from sewage treatment works and reducing the frequency and duration of discharges from storm overflows, water quality will be improved in, for example, the River Darwen, River Calder, River Hyndburn, River Yarrow and Colne Water. There has already been a significant improvement in bathing water and shellfish water quality in the Ribble catchment as a result of previous water company investment rounds. These measures will be continued as part of the next review (PR19/AMP7) of water company prices.

Chemicals: EU Law

Gavin Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made the effect of the UK leaving the REACH chemical framework on UK businesses and the supply chain after the UK has left the EU.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: We want to secure the best possible outcome for UK industry in upcoming negotiations – a partnership underpinned by high standards, a practical approach to regulation and the greatest possible access to European markets. We will continue to engage with UK industry to shape our negotiating position. Ministers have a specific responsibility, which Parliament has endorsed, to be careful not to release information that would undermine our negotiating position.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the proportion of UK Common Agricultural Policy funds which was allocated to Wales in each year for which data is available.

George Eustice: The proportion of funds allocated to Wales from the UK’s 2014 to 2020 Common Agricultural Policy budget for Direct Payments is 9% and for the Rural Development Programme is 14%.

Agriculture: Apprentices

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many apprenticeship starts there were in food, farming and agritech in (a) 2015-16 and (b) 2016-17.

George Eustice: Data on apprenticeship starts is published on gov.uk and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/650226/201617_Oct_Apps_Level_SSA_And_Framework_Data_Tool_FINAL.xlsx.

Agriculture: Genetic Engineering

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of level of research into gene editing in the food supply chain; what assessment his Department has made of the extent to which gene editing will be part of the food supply chain in the future; what plans he has bringing forward legislative proposals to regulate that technique; and if he will make a statement.

George Eustice: Gene editing has the potential to improve our ability to breed crops and animals with beneficial traits, and thereby contribute to making food production more efficient and sustainable. The Government is providing appropriate support for research and development, in particular through the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Where gene editing results in an organism with DNA from a different species it will be regulated under the controls for genetically modified organisms. However, the Government’s view is that specific regulation of this technology is not required where the induced genetic change could have occurred naturally or been achieved through traditional breeding methods. Defra’s current consultation paper on the future for food, farming and the environment invites views on research priorities to drive improvements in productivity and resource efficiency. It also refers to gene editing as one of the innovations which can help us to meet our objectives.

Hill Farming

Chris Davies: If he will bring forward legislative proposals to support hill farmers after the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: Hill farmers play an important role in the maintenance of traditional upland landscapes providing both environmental and cultural benefits. The Government’s consultation document ‘Health and Harmony: the future for food, farming and the environment in a green Brexit’ makes clear that upland areas have the potential to benefit from the proposed new environmental land management schemes in England, given the nature of their landscapes and the public goods that they deliver.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Brexit

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, pursuant to the Answer of 20 February 2018 to Question 127136 and Answer of 23 February 2018 to Question 128683, what classification was given by his Department to the document EU exit analysis-Cross Whitehall briefing.

Mr Robin Walker: The document referred to is preliminary draft analysis undertaken across Government and has not been led by a single Department. It has only very recently been presented to ministers. It does not reflect this Government’s policy, and is not representative of the expected outcome of the negotiations. As cross-whitehall analysis, any classification of the document was not the decision of DExEU or any other Department. We have complied with the terms of the motion of Parliament and have made the document available to all members to view in a confidential reading room. The document has also now been published by the Exiting the EU Select Committee.

Brexit

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March to Question 129856, and the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State on 30 January 2018, Official Report, column 685; whether the statement by the Minister on the leak inquiry was consistent with the Government's policy not to comment on leak inquiries.

Mr Robin Walker: Yes, the Government has consistently applied the policy of not commenting on the specifics of leaks inquiries.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Apprentices

Mike Kane: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many and what proportion of the staff employed by his Department are apprentices.

Mr Robin Walker: The Department for Exiting the European Union employs 17 apprentices through the Civil Service Fast Track Apprenticeship Programme. The Department for Exiting the European Union now has over 600 staff based in the UK. We regularly review headcount to ensure we are appropriately staffed to deal with all aspects of the negotiations.

EU Countries: British Nationals Abroad

Ged Killen: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether the Government plans to make it its policy to remove EU citizenship from UK citizens once the UK leaves the EU.

Mr Robin Walker: EU treaty provisions state that only citizens of EU Member States are able to hold EU citizenship. Therefore, when the UK ceases to be a member of the European Union, British nationals will no longer hold EU citizenship, unless they hold dual nationality with another EU Member State. However, we know that in the future, many UK nationals will wish to continue to travel, live and work within the European Union, just as EU citizens will still wish to do so in the UK. We look forward to discussing our future relationship with the European Union, one which will work in the interest of both the UK and the EU.

Attorney General

Serious Fraud Office

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Attorney General, how much funding his Department allocated to the Serious Fraud Office in each year since 2016; and how many staff the Serious Fraud Office employed in each year since 2016.

Robert Buckland: Details of funding and staffing for the Serious Fraud Office covering the years 2015-16 and 2016-17 can be found in the respective SFO Annual Report and Accounts. These are laid before the House each year and deposited in the Library of the House. These can also be accessed online at: www.sfo.gov.uk/publications/corporate-information/annual-reports-accounts/. Details for financial year 2017-2018 are due to published later this year once the 2017-18 Annual Report and Accounts have been prepared and then audited by the National Audit Office.

Crown Prosecution Service

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Attorney General, if he will publish (a) the amount of money he has allocated to and (b) how many full-time equivalent staff were employed by CPS Proceeds of Crime in each year since 2016.

Robert Buckland: The Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) has allocated £9,536,522 to its central Proceeds of Crime Unit in 2016/17. This does not include work carried out in CPS Areas. An average 127.7 full time equivalent staff were in post in the Proceeds of Crime Unit during 2016/17

Financial Services: Sanctions

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Attorney General, how many referrals the Crown Prosecution Service has received from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on the breach of financial sanctions in each year since 2010.

Robert Buckland: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not get direct referrals from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation.

Attorney General: Business Interests

Jon Trickett: To ask the Attorney General, which members of his Department's board are responsible for ensuring the proper application of the business appointment rules for former Ministers and senior civil servants.

Robert Buckland: Applications by former Ministers are considered by the independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments directly. For applications from former Civil Servants: Departmental Audit and Risk Committees, which are chaired by Departmental Non Executive Directors, will monitor compliance issues relating to the Business Appointment Rules.

Sexual Offences: Newcastle Upon Tyne

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Attorney General, whether he plans to respond to the recommendations relating to his Department in the Spicer review on sexual exploitation in Newcastle, published in February 2018.

Robert Buckland: On 23 February 2018, Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board and Newcastle Safeguarding Adults Board published their joint serious case review (SCR) for Operation Sanctuary.Specifically, CPS North East is working closely with Newcastle Crown Court and other partners within the Criminal Justice System to improve the experience of victims and witnesses when attending court and to ensure that the commitments to witness care set out in the Victim’s Code and the Witness Charter are properly delivered.Child sexual exploitation is abhorrent and the crimes perpetrated in Newcastle have had a devastating impact on the lives of the victims. The Government acknowledges the seriousness of the issues raised in this serious case review and is committed to improving the national response to tackling sexual exploitation.More broadly, the Government has already taken significant action to tackle this issue. In February 2017, the Government published its Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation: Progress Report and announced a £40m package of measures to protect children and young people from sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking, and to crack down on offenders. This included £7.5m for a new, ground-breaking Centre of Expertise that will identify, generate, and share high quality evidence of what works to prevent and tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation. The recommendations of the review cover a wide range of issues, which we will consider carefully in the context of this existing programme of work.

Wales Office

Wales Office: Land

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, if he will request from the Welsh Government details of (a) the land it holds and (b) the proportion of that land which has been judged surplus; and if he will place that information in the Library.

Alun Cairns: Information on the Welsh Government’s land holdings is a matter for the Welsh Government. I would suggest contacting them in the first instance.

Ministry of Justice

Courts: ICT

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 7 February 2018 to Question 125455, on Courts: ICT, whether access to justice will be used as a criterion to assess the performance of contractors other than PwC for the delivery of digital courts reform contracts.

Lucy Frazer: Access to justice is not currently used as a criterion to assess the performance of current contracts with suppliers.It may be used in the future to monitor performance of suppliers, but due to the complexities of measuring the effectiveness of this and what the supplier’s contribution to access to justice would be, the mechanism and methodology would need extensive research and management. The department does however have enabling contracts in place, which are intended to promote and contribute towards access to justice. One such example of this is a contract with the ‘Good Things Foundation.’ This Service is for the development, testing and implementation of the customer’s future face to face assisted digital service for HMCTS. This will support the ICT access needs of digitally excluded and less digitally able users. This assistance will consist of helping users to complete specified digital processes, such as help with online form completion, online payments, and online submission of evidence and other documentation.Our in house call agents will also be trained to identify assisted digital callers and will help direct callers into the support channel which best suits the callers’ needs and abilities.

Judiciary: Gender

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of judicial selection panels were gender balanced in 2016.

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of judicial selection panels included at least one Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic member in 2016.

Lucy Frazer: The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is the executive non‑departmental public body, sponsored by the Ministry of Justice, which selects candidates for judicial office in courts and tribunals in England and Wales, and for some tribunals whose jurisdiction extends across the UK, up to and including the High Court and Upper Tribunal. JAC’s selection panels for selections up to and including the High Court and Upper Tribunal, usually consist of a lay panel chair, an independent lay member and a judicial member (nominated by the judiciary). Of those who declared diversity information, 62% of JAC lay panellists are female and 8% are from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (‘BAME’) background. People making nominations to the selection panels for senior posts and the UK Supreme Court must have regard (alongside other relevant considerations) to the fact that it is desirable that the panel should include both women and men and members drawn from a range of different racial groups (as defined by the Equality Act 2010) I also refer to my honourable friend to my answer to PQ 128124, in which she asked the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to increase judicial diversity.

Council Tax: Non-payment

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what comparative assessment he has made of the average (a) cost to the public purse of a prison sentence and (b) amount of debt outstanding in cases where people have been sent to prison for council tax non-payment in each year between 2010 and 2017.

Rory Stewart: The Government has not undertaken any such comparative assessments. Magistrates’ courts should consider imprisonment for non-payment of council tax only if the failure to pay is due to the individual's wilful refusal or culpable neglect. Local council tax support schemes are available to those householders on low incomes who have difficulty in paying their council tax.

Social Security and Child Support Tribunal: Staff

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff were employed in Social Security and Child Support Tribunals in each year since 2010.

Lucy Frazer: In August 2016 there were 645 people equivalent to 572.5 on an FTE basis working within SSCS, and in Nov 2017 we had 595 people equivalent to 527.7 FTE. It is important to stress that these figures were taken as a snapshot and may have been different during other periods in both years.Information before 2016 is not held centrally and can only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

Prison Officers

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much money was spent from the public purse on (a) hotels and (b) other expenses for prison officers on detached duty in each month from July to December 2013.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much money was spent from the public purse on (a) hotels and (b) other expenses for prison officers on detached duty in each month from January to June 2012.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much money was spent from the public purse on (a) hotels and (b) other expenses for prison officers on detached duty in each month from July to December 2012.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much money was spent from the public purse on (a) hotels and (b) other expenses for prison officers on detached duty in each month from January to June 2011.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much money was spent from the public purse on (a) hotels and (b) other expenses for prison officers on detached duty in each month from July to December 2011.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much money was spent from the public purse on (a) hotels and (b) other expenses for prison officers on detached duty in each month from January to June 2010.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much money was spent from the public purse on (a) hotels and (b) other expenses for prison officers on detached duty in each month from July to December 2010.

Rory Stewart: Prison officers do a challenging and vital job to help protect the public and we are committed to making sure we have enough staff to deliver safe regimes in our prisons. Detached duty is vital to ensure we manage estates, as one of the sensible and proportionate measures we take to cover resourcing pressures and ensure we run safe and decent regimes in prisons as well as being able to respond appropriately to any operational issues that arise. In 2016 the former Secretary of State announced HMPPS would be recruiting an additional 2,500 prison officers by December 2018. Good progress is being made to hit this target, with 1,970 additional officers recruited by 31st December 2017. These new staff will reduce the need for Detached Duty. When there is a need to accommodate staff in hotels, we work hard to ensure the best possible value for money for the taxpayer and have controls in place to help keep costs to a minimum. Where possible, bookings are for specifically timed trains in standard class to help keep costs to a minimum. Data prior to 2013 for expenses incurred through Detached Duty does not exist. Please see attached data from 2013 onwards.



Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 25.14 KB)

Courts: Video Conferencing

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what research his Department has commissioned on the potential effects of virtual court hearings on vulnerable defendants.

Lucy Frazer: Technology is already used in a variety of ways in courts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the court process. The various ways in which video links are used in criminal proceedings are kept under regular internal review by HMCTS. As technology develops it is appropriate to consider how it can be used to best effect in our court and tribunals service. The MoJ has commissioned an independent process evaluation of a video hearings pilot currently underway in the Tax Tribunal. A small-scale assessment was made in 2010 on the impact of video technology in some criminal proceedings, although vulnerable defendants were not a focus of this work. Better use of video can reduce travel time, cost and inconvenience for the public and professionals who use our courts and tribunals. The court will always have the final say on mode of hearing and will need to be satisfied that it is compatible with the defendant’s right to a fair trial, in particular, that they are able to participate effectively. Where the defendant is a youth, the court has a statutory duty to have regard to the welfare of children and young persons under s.44 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933.

Legal Aid Scheme: Housing

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on legal aid for early advice on housing issues.

Lucy Frazer: Our legal aid system is a fundamental pillar of access to justice. Across all departments, the government is committed to ensuring that legal aid continues to be available in the most important cases.Ministers and officials have regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues.

Legal Aid Scheme: Housing

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of reinstating legal aid for early advice in respect of housing law.

Lucy Frazer: Legal aid for housing advice in England and Wales is currently available for fundamental issues of homelessness, or where there are disrepairs to the home that seriously threaten the life or health of the individual or their family, subject to means and merits tests. The Lord Chancellor has confirmed that we shall conduct an evidence-based review of Part 1 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), assessing the changes against their objectives. This review will include changes made to provision of legal aid for housing issues.

Community Orders

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many unpaid work requirements have been handed down by the courts as part of community orders in each year since 2010.

Rory Stewart: Courts may impose up to 300 hours of unpaid work as part of a community order or suspended sentence order.The number of requirements commenced under community orders from 2006 to 2016 can be found via the link below in table A4.9 .https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/610980/probation-2016.xlsx

Community Orders

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how long the average unpaid work requirement handed down by the courts as part of community orders in each year since 2010 was.

Rory Stewart: Courts may impose up to 300 hours of unpaid work as part of a community sentence or suspended sentence order. The average number of hours of unpaid work handed down by the courts per requirement as part of community orders in each year since 2010 can be viewed in the attached table.



Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 10.4 KB)

Community Orders

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of community orders involved an unpaid work requirement in each year since 2010.

Rory Stewart: The proportion of offenders starting community orders which involved an unpaid work requirement from 2010 to 2016 in England and Wales can be found via the link below in table A4.10 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/610980/probation-2016.xlsx

Segregation of Prisoners

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average occupancy rate for the care and separation unit in each prison in England and Wales was in 2017.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average occupancy rate for the care and separation unit in each prison in England and Wales was in 2016.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average occupancy rate for the care and separation unit in each prison in England and Wales was in 2015.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average occupancy rate for the care and separation unit in each prison in England and Wales was in 2014.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average occupancy rate for the care and separation unit in each prison in England and Wales was in 2013.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average occupancy rate for the care and separation unit in each prison in England and Wales was in 2012.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average occupancy rate for the care and separation unit in each prison in England and Wales was in 2011.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average occupancy rate for the care and separation unit in each prison in England and Wales was in 2010.

Rory Stewart: The MoJ does not record the occupancy rates for Care and Separation units.

Prison Sentences

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions additional days of imprisonment were awarded in each prison in each year since 2010; and how many days in total were awarded in each prison in that same period.

Rory Stewart: Discipline procedures are central to the maintenance of a safe, decent and rehabilitative custodial environment. They are provided for by The Prison Rules 1999 and the Young Offender Institution Rules 2000, which require adjudications to be conducted lawfully, fairly and justly. Independent Adjudicators are District Judges or Deputy District Judges who attend prisons and young offender institutions when necessary to hear those adjudication cases which are deemed to be sufficiently serious. If found guilty, such cases may merit an award of additional days to a person’s time spent in custody. Only Independent Adjudicators can make an award of additional days. The most serious offences will be referred to the Police. Information on the number of occasions additional days were awarded to prisoners in each prison, as a result of an adjudication, between 2010 and 2015 can be found in the attached table. It also provides information on the total number of days awarded in each prison for the same period. Information on adjudication punishments at each prison for 2017 is due to be published on 26 April 2018 and therefore is not available yet. Information for 2016 is available in the published Offender Management Statistics bulletin by selecting CSV dataset and variable guide (zip) and Punishments2016.csv at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2016



Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 22.18 KB)

Prisoners: Mental Health

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice,  what the average proportion of prisoners on an Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork programme in each prison was in each year since 2010.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners in each prison have been on an Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork programme in each year since 2010.

Dr Phillip Lee: The Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process is a multi-disciplinary case management process for managing and supporting prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm There are over 2,500 prisoners who are assessed as being at risk and being managed under ACCT on any given day, and over 48,000 ACCTs were opened during 2017. Data in the form requested is not routinely produced, and it has not been possible to answer these questions in the time allowed. I will write to the Honourable Member in due course.

Ministry of Justice: Contracts

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions his Department refused to approve a subcontractor proposed by a private contractor in each year since 2010; what the reason given for each such refusal was; which contractor proposed each such subcontract; and what the name of each such subcontractor was.

Rory Stewart: The Ministry of Justice does not record this information centrally and therefore does not hold the information requested.

Reoffenders: Females

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of women subject to post-release supervision by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) were recalled to prison for non-compliance by CRC area in England and Wales in (a) 2015, (b) 2016 and (c) 2017.

Rory Stewart: The number of females recalled per year by each Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) is set out in the table below. CRC Area201520162017*Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire & Hertfordshire264333Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset & Wiltshire204221Cheshire & Greater Manchester404241Cumbria & Lancashire272927Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire & Rutland495358Dorset, Devon & Cornwall122016Durham Tees Valley151116Essex132513Hampshire & Isle of Wight182919Humberside, Lincolnshire & North Yorkshire233019Kent, Surrey & Sussex424643London79131144Merseyside213539Norfolk & Suffolk131321Northumbria111112South Yorkshire271712Staffordshire & West Midlands456353Thames Valley202219Wales426049Warwickshire & West Mercia171817West Yorkshire193942Total (ALL)579779714 * Recalls in 2017 up to 30 September 2017. The figures in this table have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. The numbers of women subject to post-release supervision are not recorded so it is not possible to show the proportion of women subject to post-release supervision who have been recalled. Our probation reforms mean we are now monitoring 40,000 offenders who would previously have been released with no supervision at all. HMPPS, the NPS and CRCs are working to ensure that recalls are used appropriately and effectively.

Legal Representation

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many litigants in person have been through the courts in family and housing cases in each of the last five years.

Lucy Frazer: Figures on the legal representation of applicants and respondents in family proceedings in England and Wales from 2012 to 2016 with at least one hearing are shown in Table 1 below. We do not collect for all types of housing proceedings, data on the representation status of applicants and respondents. Where data is not currently held it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Table 1. Legal representation status of applicants and respondents in Family Courts cases1 with at least one hearing, England & Wales Representation status at most recent hearing Applicants Respondents Total applicantsKnown representationNo advocate representation / unknown2 Total respondentsKnown representationNo advocate representation / unknown2YearNumberNumber%Number% NumberNumber%Number%2012107,91578,55973%29,35627% 124,87263,34451%61,52849%2013113,43175,04766%38,38434% 129,83854,10342%75,73558%201499,06560,30961%38,75639% 114,79746,48640%68,31160%2015100,72561,48961%39,23639% 117,90748,95242%68,95558%2016106,37164,48161%41,89039% 126,66652,78442%73,88258%Notes:  1. Family cases include divorce, financial remedy, public law, private law, domestic violence remedy and adoption cases.2. Self-representation is determined by the field 'legal representation' in Familyman being left blank, and 'at least one hearing' refers to non-vacated scheduled hearings, rather than actual hearings that have taken place.

Legal Representation

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect on delays to court proceedings of the increase in the number of litigants in person during the last five years.

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the costs to the public purse arising from changes in the number of litigants in person in the last two years.

Lucy Frazer: As the Government announced in October 2017, we are undertaking a review of the legal aid changes made as a result of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. The review is expected to conclude by summer recess 2018. Unrepresented parties have always been a feature of the civil and family justice system. Since 2015, the Government has invested £5 million of funding to support litigants in person through a range of measures designed to provide additional information, support and guidance.

Ministry of Justice: Internet

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of his Department’s cloud-hosting contracts have been awarded to (a) hyperscale cloud providers and (b) UK SMEs; and what the value was of those contracts in each of the last three years.

Rory Stewart: The MOJ has interpreted the definition of Hyperscale Cloud providers to mean larger suppliers of Cloud Hosting. The Ministry of Justice has awarded 32 Cloud Hosting contracts covering the period from June 2015. Of these 10 were awarded to larger Cloud Hosting providers and the remaining 22 to UK based SME’s. Of the 10 contracts awarded to larger Cloud Hosting providers the value since June 2015 are as follows: 2015/20162016/172017/2018£6,422,253.99£6,010,672.41£7,754,348.05 The breakdown of the spend to UK Based SME’s is 2015/20162016/172017/2018£2,426,214.50£8,601,130.55£11,778,514.34

Ministry of Justice: Internet

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the volume of UK citizens’ data held by companies (a) supplying cloud services to his department and (b) contracted to deliver cloud services on behalf of his Department that is subject to information requests from US Government bodies.

Rory Stewart: The Ministry of Justice does not centrally collect the specific data requested and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Where personal data is held or processed in cloud services, the risks associated with this are assessed (including the potential for foreign state information requests to the provider) and managed appropriately.

Approved Premises

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff there were without security clearance in bail and probation hostels by site in England and Wales in each of the last 12 months.

Rory Stewart: This data is not held centrally and can only be collated at disproportionate cost. Where staff are working in approved premises if they hold no vetting they will be supervised at all times by permanent, vetted NPS staff. A new way of working in approved premises is being implemented, which will lead to there always being two personnel on duty during the night rather than one. During the transition to a new way of working, NPS have agreed an additional precautionary measure which will, in some instances, provide triple cover during the two month transition period.

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012

Eleanor Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department plans for the review of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 to include an examination of the effect of that Act on non-asylum immigration cases involving unaccompanied and separated children.

Lucy Frazer: The Government is committed to the protection of vulnerable children, especially in cases where children lack adequate parental support. The Lord Chancellor has confirmed the start of the review into Part 1 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. The review will include an assessment of the changes to the scope of legal aid for immigration cases.

Crime: Victims

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints have been received by his Department of alleged breaches of the Victims' Code in each of the last 3 years.

Dr Phillip Lee: The Victims’ Code is a statutory code of practice, which sets out the services that must by law be provided to victims of crime in England and Wales by criminal justice agencies. The Ministry of Justice does not collate breaches of the Code by criminal justice agencies.

Crime: Victims

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he next plans to meet with representatives of victims groups.

Dr Phillip Lee: As Minister for Victims, I meet regularly with representatives of victims groups. I chair a quarterly Victims Panel, which includes representatives of victims support organisations. This is a forum to share and learn from the experiences of victims of crime. The last meeting was in January and we will meet again in April. I also meet on a regular basis with the Victims’ Commissioner, Baroness Newlove.

Civil Proceedings

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number of vexatious court applications taken out by people convicted of (a) stalking and (b) domestic abuse in respect of their victims in the (i) Family and (b) Civil courts.

Lucy Frazer: The Ministry of Justice does not hold the requested data.

Civil Proceedings

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether judges have the power to strike out an application in the family or civil court if that application is deemed to be vexatious.

Lucy Frazer: It is unacceptable for someone to use court processes to harass or abuse a former partner. Judges in the family and civil courts have wide powers to manage such situations, including, depending on the circumstances, the power to strike out an action they view as an abuse of process and the power to prevent a person from making further applications without prior permission of the court.

Civil Proceedings

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department plans to prevent convicted stalkers or domestic abusers from cross-examining their victims in family courts and civil courts.

Lucy Frazer: We remain committed to addressing the issue of abusers directly cross-examining their victims in family proceedings. We want to legislate to give family courts the power to stop this as soon as possible and are considering how best to proceed. We would want to learn lessons from the application of such provisions in family proceedings before we consider extending them to civil proceedings.

Children: Custody

Sandy Martin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number of child custody cases heard in court (a) prior to and (b) since the removal of legal aid for early advice per year.

Lucy Frazer: The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) came into force in April 2013. A new form of child arrangements order was introduced on 22 April 2014 to replace the former separate contact and residence orders (formerly known as “access” and “custody” respectively). The number of applications made for a residence order, or a child arrangements order making provision for a child’s residence in England Wales, since 2011 is shown in the table below. Number of private law applications for a residence order or child arrangements order making provision for a child’s residence in England and Wales since 2011Year Number of applications 201123, 187201223, 838201323, 568201417, 820201515, 766201617, 552

Parole Board

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make it her policy to make retrospective any changes her Department proposes to the transparency of Parole Board decision-making.

Rory Stewart: The review of the transparency of Parole Board decision-making remains a priority for me and for the Government. We will have completed the review by Easter, and the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice will report thereafter.

Courts: Closures

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which courts closed since 2010 have yet to be sold; and what the annual maintenance costs of each of those courts has been over the period of their closure.

Lucy Frazer: Of the courts that have closed since 2010, the following have yet to be sold or disposed of:  Maintenance Costs*  (financial year)CourtClosure Date Disposal Progress***17/18** (£)16/17 (£)15/16 (£)Abergavenny Magistrates’ CourtOctober 2013Exchanged4,8666,0071,907Alton Magistrates’ CourtSeptember 2014Exchanged5,8245,963575Birmingham Youth CourtJanuary 2018Pre-marketing2,12800Bournemouth Magistrates’ CourtJanuary 2017Exchanged22,0288690Brecon Law CourtSeptember 2016Exchanged6,7072,6970Caerphilly Magistrates’ CourtMay 2016Exchanged7,39912,1890Chichester Magistrates’ CourtJune 2017Transfer to Homes England4,96000East Parade - Sheffield TribunalJune 2017Pre-Marketing5,83800Keighley (Bingley) Magistrates’ CourtDecember 2011Under Offer3,17610,3323,509Liverpool, Dale Street Magistrates’June 2015Pre-Marketing/Contractual Issues042,38126,101Llangefni County CourtAugust 2017Exchanged3,50100Lyndhurst Magistrates’ CourtApril 2011Under Offer3,9242,673556Oswestry Magistrates’/County CourtApril 2013Under Offer2,9743,2351,012Runcorn (Halton) Magistrates' CourtJanuary 2017Pre-Marketing10,39800Southampton Combined Court - Barrack BlockJune 2016Marketing13,7686,0990Telford County CourtSeptember 2017Transfer to Homes England11,37800Torquay Magistrates' CourtSeptember 2017Marketing5,58300Watford Magistrates’ CourtJuly 2017In solicitors’ hands8,83300* Maintenance costs include planned and emergency works on court sites that includes works to repair or preserve the fabric of the building as well as utilities, fixtures and fittings. ** figures provided are up to 28 February 2018 *** Summary of disposal status:StatusDescriptionExchangedContracts have been exchanged between the buyer and seller, this is the stage before completion.Under OfferAn offer from a potential purchaser has been received and is under consideration.MarketingThe property is being advertised to potential buyersPre-marketingThis phase includes investigations to support strategic decisions made on the portfolio and or future value maximisationIn solicitors’ handsConveyancing is underway and contracts are being negotiated with the preferred party.TransferThe property has been or is due to be transferred to Homes England (formerly the Homes and Communities Agency) or the Education Funding AgencyThe information requested relating to annual maintenance costs for period prior to the 2015/16 financial year could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Prisons: Profits

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department received in profits from prison (a) shops, (b) industries and (c) farms in each year since 2010.

Rory Stewart: Supporting offenders into meaningful employment is a vital part of the Government’s approach to tackling re-offending. Work in prisons is spread across a number of different activities including Industries and prison Farms. These activities help in prisoners’ rehabilitation by providing varying levels of ability and skills development to help achieve employment on release. Prison shops, Industries and Farms make a commercial income which contributes back to the high cost of imprisonment reducing the burden on the taxpayer. Nationally the provision of work in prison operates at cost and therefore does not make a 'profit', however any small surplus above cost recovery can be used by Governors to support further growth and rehabilitation activities. To obtain this information, however, would require an ask to all prisons to determine their costs with the activity concerned and analyse any difference between expenditure and income. This could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Prisons: Visits

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff are employed by the Prison Service to book family and solicitor visits for prisoners and people on remand in prisons; on how many occasions phone lines and internet facilities to make those bookings were unavailable in January and February 2018; and what effect the level of unavailability had on solicitor visits during that time period.

Rory Stewart: Prisons in England and Wales are required to carry out these duties in line with Prison Service Instruction (PSI) 16/2011. This PSI can be found at: https://www.justice.gov.uk/offenders/psis/prison-service-instructions-2011 This specific information requested is not collected centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Prisoners: Wales

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) male and (b) female people ordinarily resident in England who were serving custodial sentences in Wales in each of the last 10 years.

Rory Stewart: The table below sets out the number of sentenced prisoners held in Wales with an origin address in England since 2009. No data is available for 2008. As there are no female prisons in Wales the table only shows the number of male sentenced prisoners. Quarter 1Male sentenced prisoners in Welsh prisons with origin addresses outside WalesTotal Prison PopulationPercentage of total population made up of male sentenced prisoners in Welsh prisons with origin addresses outside Wales200936082,7720.43%201038585,0090.45%201145385,1370.53%201242886,9800.49%201339683,8420.48%201441285,5090.48%201548286,1930.56%201647585,1340.56%201786685,8631.01%  The data are based on snapshots and do not provide an indication of all prisoners with origin addresses in England who have served/are serving custodial sentences between 2009 and 2017. Furthermore, the data should not be taken to be representative of prisoners who identify as Welsh/English. When allocating prisoners to suitable establishments closeness to home is one of a number of factors considered. We also consider other factors such as length of sentence, security category and offending behaviour requirements. On occasion the offence itself may dictate location, with (for example) sex offenders mainly being held in prisons where they can receive specialist treatment. All data shown are based on the prison population at either May or June of each representative year. This tool has been designed for high level analytical purposes only. The detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. While the figures shown have been checked as far as practicable, they should be regarded as approximate and not necessarily accurate to the last whole number shown in the tables. They are fit to be used for comparing the relative magnitude of components. Around 97% of prisoners have origin locations. Those with no origin are typically foreign nationals or recently received into custody and have been excluded from this table. The Ministry of Justice is undertaking a programme of large scale prison reform which includes modernising the prison estate, closing older prisons that are not fit for purpose and creating in their place high-quality, rehabilitative establishments. As part of this programme we have started to redevelop the prisons at Glen Parva (Leicestershire) and Wellingborough (Northamptonshire); and we are building a new houseblock at Stocken prison (Rutland).

Prisons: Contracts

Ms Marie Rimmer: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much of the projected £115 million of savings in the prison facilities management contracts awarded in 2014 has been saved to date.

Rory Stewart: I refer the Honourable Member to my answers to Questions 125573 and 125574 from the Honourable Member for Leeds East. As stated in the 2016-17 National Offender Management Service Annual Report, the contracting exercise “exposed that historically the costs of maintenance and services were not clearly understood by the business and consequently planning assumptions have not held true.” Anticipated efficiency savings have therefore not been achieved. We will only transform our prisons into places of rehabilitation if we ensure that we address basic issues such as cleanliness, decent conditions and safety. Our Facilities Management providers, Amey and Gov Facility Services Ltd, play an important role in achieving this.

Prisons: Repairs and Maintenance

Ms Marie Rimmer: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the contracts to outsource facilities management in prisons, awarded in 2014, how much funding was allocated to (a) preventative maintenance and (b) reactive maintenance; and in relation to each of those allocations, what the (i) budgeted spend and (ii) actual spend was; and if he will make a statement.

Rory Stewart: The facilities management contracts awarded in 2014 provide for payments under the following categories:Fixed costs – covering planned preventative maintenance, reactive maintenance under £750, plus a range of other services including stores, cleaning, waste disposal, pest control and landscaping;Variable costs – covering reactive maintenance over £750, vandalism and minor works commissioned by prisons; andManagement fees. The table below provides information on the budgeted and actual expenditure for each of these categories in 2015/16 and 2016/17. Final figures for 2017/18 are not yet available. We will only transform our prisons into places of rehabilitation if we ensure that we address basic issues such as cleanliness, decent conditions and safety. Our Facilities Management providers, Amey and Gov Facility Services Ltd, play an important role in achieving this. FM Contract Budget and Reported Costs from June 2015 (contract start)  2015-162016-17 10 months12 months BudgetActualsBudgetActualsFM Contract costs£m£m£m£mFixed costs58.973.971.378.3Variable costs3.15.63.920.3Management fees6.56.68.28.1Base Contract Costs68.586.183.4106.7

Prisons: Mother and Baby Units

Ms Marie Rimmer: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women in custody of each ethnic group were given a place in a mother and baby unit in 2017.

Dr Phillip Lee: The total number of women given a place in a Mother and Baby Unit in 2016-17 was 67. 48 were of white ethnicity, 7 were from mixed ethnic groups, 5 were of Asian or Asian British (including Chinese) ethnicity, and 5 were Black or Black British.

Cabinet Office

Carillion

John Mann: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what value of contracts awarded by Government departments to Carillion plc was in the last 12 months.

Oliver Dowden: The government issued a limited number of contracts to Carillion during the period when the company was seeking to address its financial difficulties, whilst of course making sure that we had the right protections in place--Carillion had been a longstanding supplier and had delivered successfully in the past.We also routinely stress-test contracts to ensure that if one party within a contract fails to deliver, the other parties involved will step in to complete the work. As with all contracts, our priority is to have best value and outcome for taxpayers’ money.

Government

Marion Fellows: To ask the First Secretary of State, what the target time is for the Government to make payments to small and medium-sized enterprises; and (a) how many and (b) what percentage of payments by the Government met that target in 2017.

Oliver Dowden: In March 2015 the Government restated its longstanding policy commitment to pay 80% of undisputed and valid invoices within 5 days with the remainder paid within 30 days. Public sector buyers must publish annually on their payment performance. We do not hold centrally the performance data for 2017. However, data published in 2015-16 shows that by the final quarter all major departments, apart from one (at 76%), were meeting their 5 days target and that all departments were paying at least 96% of their invoices within the 30 day target, with several departments achieving 100%.

Civil Servants: Training

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many disabled people joined the Civil Service Fast Stream in each year since 2010.

Oliver Dowden: Between 2010 and 2016, 612 disabled people were recommended for appointment on the Civil Service Fast Stream (drawn from available data showing those who have declared a disability). The 2017 data is currently being analysed.Recommended for appointment – Candidates with declared disability 2010201120122013201420152016Count635288748790158% of those recommended for appointment (known figures only)13.7%13.3%13.7%8.7%9.8%9.6%13.2%This information can be found at the following address:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/678425/FSET_Annual_Review_2016.pdf

Cabinet Office: Ministerial Powers

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many ministerial directions were issued to his Department in (a) 2015, (b) 2016 and (c) 2017.

Oliver Dowden: The Cabinet Office had the following number of ministerial directions in respective years:2015- one2016- one2017- noneThe information is held in the Cabinet Office accounts; https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-annual-reports-and-accounts

Emergencies: Departmental Responsibilities

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Minister has responsibility for civil contingencies.

Oliver Dowden: Each Department is individually responsible for overseeing levels of preparedness and the potential consequences of civil emergency risks for those sectors within their purview. Within the Cabinet Office, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office has oversight of all of the Cabinet Office’s activities. The Minister for Implementation has responsibility for civil contingencies policy.

Cabinet Office: Departmental Responsibilities

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the responsibilities of the Minister for Implementation, what the terms what works and behaviour change refer to.

Oliver Dowden: What Works: ‘What Works’ refers to the initiative launched by the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury in 2013 to ensure that the best available evidence informs spending decisions and the delivery of public services. It brings together of a network of 10 independent What Works Centres in policy areas such education, health, local economic growth, and children’s social care. These centres synthesise the existing evidence base in their fields of expertise and produce guidance for decision-makers both in government and on the frontline. Many of these research centres also commission or conduct primary research to fill gaps in the evidence base. The National What Works Adviser and the Cabinet Office’s What Works Team coordinates this network. They operate across government to share findings from the centres and support civil servants in the generation and use of evidence. For more information, please see: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/what-works-network Behaviour change: Behaviour change in this context refers to the use of behavioural insights to bring about change and improvements, for example in policymaking and service delivery. For more information, please see the recently launched behavioural insights framework: http://ccs-agreements.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/contracts/rm6004

Carillion

John McDonnell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will undertake an official investigation in to his Department's management of Carillion's performance in relation to public sector contracts.

Oliver Dowden: We have not had any significant performance issues on direct government contracts. Departments continually monitor the operational performance of contracts to ensure the best outcome for taxpayers.

Carillion

John McDonnell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department plans to undertake an inquiry into the (a) circumstances leading to the liquidation of Carillion and (b) potential range of costs to the tax payer of that liquidation.

Oliver Dowden: The Official Receiver has a statutory duty to identify the cause of the company failure and will investigate directors’ behaviours as part of this. More details can be found on their website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/insolvency-service

Government Departments: Land

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much land has been declared as surplus by each Government Department in the Coast to Capital LEP area.

Oliver Dowden: The Government has declared the following land as surplus in the Coast to Capital LEP area. This does not include sites that were previously declared as surplus and are now disposed.   DepartmentSum of Land Area (ha)Count of Department PropertyDepartment for Education0.75051Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs1.06896Ministry of Defence (Civil)24.41381Ministry of Justice0.45872Grand Total26.691910

Cabinet Office: Beverage Containers

Mary Creagh: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many disposable coffee cups were purchased by his Department in each of the last five years.

Oliver Dowden: No cups were purchased directly by the Cabinet Office.

Cabinet Office: Written Questions

Marion Fellows: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to answer Question 122684, tabled by the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw on 15 January 2018.

Oliver Dowden: I refer the hon. Member to PQ 122684 answered on 12th March 2018.

Government Departments: Contracts

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what criteria the Government uses to award contracts to private companies.

Oliver Dowden: Public sector procurers are required to assess value for money using criteria linked to the subject matter of the contract, including compliance with the published specification. Regulations covering selection and award criteria are included in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015:http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/102/contents/made

Cabinet Office: Zero Hours Contracts

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) full-time staff, (b) part-time staff, (c) temporary staff and (d) any other staff were directly employed on zero-hours contracts by his Department in each of the last eight years.

Oliver Dowden: There are no employees in my department who are currently, or have previously been, employed on zero-hours contracts in the last eight years. The report can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/people-in-employment-on-a-zero-hours-contract-mar-2017

Cabinet Office: Flexible Working

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what percentage of employees in his Department worked (a) in departmental accommodation, (b) from home and (c) at any other location in the most recent 12-month period for which data is available.

Oliver Dowden: Between January 2017 and December 2017, 20 (0.3%) Cabinet Office staff are registered home workers. 4342 (71%) Cabinet Office staff worked in Cabinet Office accommodation across the country. 1750 (28.7%) of Cabinet Office staff work in another location.

Government Departments: Databases

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment is Department has made of the potential effect of reducing data duplication across government on access to public services for people who are (a) precariously housed, (b) students and (c) experiencing relationship or family separation and (d) leaving abusive relationships; and if he will make a statement.

Oliver Dowden: The Government is committed to making better use of data, including reducing data duplication, to keep pace with rising public expectations and the availability and potential of new technology to deliver better services at lower cost to taxpayers. This is why we have introduced data sharing measures in the Digital Economy Act, which:-allow public authorities to share personal data with other public authorities in specific contexts in order to improve the welfare of the individual in question, for example the Troubled Families programme;-allow public authorities to share limited information with energy companies to apply energy bill rebates or to provide households with energy saving measures; and-allow public sector access to civil registration information (such as birth, marriage, civil partnership and death information) on a more consistent and transparent basis.

Cabinet Office: Arms Length Bodies

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the most recent tailored reviews took place for each of his Department's arms-length bodies.

Oliver Dowden: The UKSA was the subject of an independent review in 2016. The Cabinet Office’s programme of tailored reviews for its Arms Length Bodies is scheduled to begin shortly, completing in 2019.

Civil Servants: Recruitment

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to promote civil service career opportunities to people who did not attend University.

Oliver Dowden: The Cabinet Office promotes civil service career opportunities to people who did not attend university through the Fast Track Apprenticeship Programme, and through apprenticeships more broadly. The Fast Track programme is explicitly marketed as a genuine alternative to university and is promoted all year round through our schools & colleges outreach events, additional diversity outreach activities, and via our attraction site. Every year we run a dedicated campaign of activity when the Fast Track Recruitment window opens - this year on 28 February at noon. The Cabinet Office recruits apprenticeships throughout the year via the CS Jobs website, where details of further Civil Service jobs can be found which are not apprenticeships but also do not require a degree as a pre-requisite.

Civil Servants: Recruitment

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of successful Civil Service Fast Stream applicants in each financial year since 2010-11 attended a private school.

Oliver Dowden: The proportion of successful Civil Service Fast Stream applicants who attended an independent school since the new centralised Fast Stream was introduced in 2013 is as follows: Year % Applicants recommended for appointment who attended independent school 2013 23.5%2014 23.0%2015 25.2%2016 28.6% Data was not published on school type before 2013.  The report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/678425/FSET_Annual_Review_2016.pdf

Civil Servants: Recruitment

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of Civil Service Fast Stream applicants in each year since 2010-11 attended a private school.

Oliver Dowden: The proportion of Civil Service Fast Stream applicants who attended an independent school since the new centralised Fast Stream was introduced in 2013 is as follows:  Year Applicants who attended independent school 2013 20.5%2014 19.0%2015 19.1%2016 18.9%The report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/678425/FSET_Annual_Review_2016.pdf

Families

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for which policies the Implementation Unit has examined the effect in regard to the family in the last 12 months.

Oliver Dowden: The Cabinet Office supports the Prime Minister by tracking the delivery of the Government's programme​. This includes working with departments to look at​ a number of​ policies on families.

Public Sector: Cybercrime

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he has taken to ensure robust cyber security in the public sector.

Oliver Dowden: The Government takes public sector cyber security very seriously. We support the sector in improving their resilience to cyber attacks and encourage all organisations to implement the advice developed by National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and published on their website (www.ncsc.gov.uk). In addition, the NCSC’s Active Cyber Defence (ACD) programme continues to be rolled out alongside the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government led Think Cyber Think Resilience initiative which helps councils improve their security and wider cyber resilience awareness.

General Elections: Dementia

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many votes cast (a) in person, (b) by proxy and (c) by postal vote were declared void due to the voter being judged to suffer from dementia in each of the last four general elections.

Chloe Smith: There are no grounds for rejecting a vote on the basis that the vote was cast by a voter who had dementia and therefore, the Government does not hold any data relevant to this question. It is not possible to determine whether a vote has been cast by a voter with dementia.

Blood: Contamination

Layla Moran: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2018 to Question 121054, for what reasons the Government did not appoint Sir Brian Langstaff to head the public Inquiry before Christmas 2017.

Mr David Lidington: As required by the Inquiries Act 2005, the Lord Chief Justice was asked to recommend a judge who, in his view, would be best suited to the Chair the Inquiry. The Lord Chief Justice recommended Sir Brian Langstaff: a highly respected and hugely experienced High Court judge. I accepted the Lord Chief Justice’s recommendation, and Sir Brian agreed to accept the position. It was not possible to complete this process before Christmas.Last week Sir Brian and his Inquiry team launched a consultation on the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference. Sir Brian will want to listen carefully to the voices of those that have suffered before making a recommendation to me on what the scope of the Inquiry should be. The Government will ensure that the Inquiry has the resources that it needs to complete its work as quickly as a thorough examination of the facts allows, so that victims and their families can have the answers they have spent decades waiting for, and lessons can be learned so that a tragedy of this scale can never happen again.

Prostate Cancer

Derek Twigg: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many men in each Clinical Commissioning Group area were (a) diagnosed with and (b) died from prostate cancer in each of the last five years.

Chloe Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. 



UKSA Response 
(PDF Document, 76.29 KB)

House of Commons Commission

Parliamentary Tours

Ian Murray: To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, if the Commission will consult all Members on the decision of the Administration Committee to alter the way in-House guided tours are delivered before that decision is implemented.

Tom Brake: The House of Commons Commission has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

House of Commons: Fairtrade Initiative

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps the Commission has taken to stock (a) fair trade wines and (b) other fair trade products.

Tom Brake: The House of Commons Commission has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

House of Commons: Catering

Chris Stephens: To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps the Commission takes to ensure all hospitality establishments on the Parliamentary Estate comply with (a) consumer protection regulations and (b) employment legislation in respect of tipping and gratuities; and if he will make a statement.

Tom Brake: The House of Commons Commission has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.